Cutting Boards
- This topic has 18 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 04/22/2021 at 3:01 am by
.
-
I use both end grain wood and the plastic type.
I save the plastic type for meats, fish and raw foods, especially fowl and poultry with blood or biologic juices that could possible contaminate or transfer onto to other foods that could make us sick. These plastic type boards are easier to clean well and to sanitize.
I use the wood for the salad, fruits and veggies and foods I don’t need to worry about.
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)8 users thanked author for this post.
There is a very good article by Vadim Kraichuk, a professional sharpener in Australia. KG, as he is known on several boards and forums, does a scientific study of cutting boards and their effect on edge sharpness.
http://knifegrinders.com.au/SET/Chopping_Boards.pdf
Ed K.
8 users thanked author for this post.
I have a cherry wood end grain board that I use with my nicer knives. I will cut cooked proteins and any vegetables on that board. I cut any raw meat one of my plastic boards for the same reasons that MarcH cited. I don’t have any data, but I do believe that the end grain board is more gentle on the edge than the plastic ones.
4 users thanked author for this post.
I don’t think you can extrapolate results for an edge grain bamboo board to conclude that all edge grain boards are bad.
Yep. I agree.
1 user thanked author for this post.
He tested Acacia boards as well as Bamboo – both end grain and long grain.
He says that the Acacia wood in the AU is comparable in hardness to Maple used in the US.
Of the nine cutting boards tested, only 3 showed a negative impact on sharpness. Bamboo end grain, low density polypropylene, and tempered glass.
For the Acacia/Maple boards, end grain increased sharpness 20 BESS points and long grain increased 10 BESS points. Not really significant in my opinion.
My takeaway was that the knives were perfectly perpendicular/vertical to the board for all cuts. If the knife drifts from vertical as you slice, the edge will roll and dull the edge. It took 2000 cuts to realize the full benefit. He cautions about using the knife edge to scrape food off of the board. Which, until I re-read the document, I have been doing forever. He suggests using the spine for that task.
Ed K.
Ed K.
3 users thanked author for this post.
I use mostly the UHMW plastic cutting boards. I do have some rather large wood boards, but I reserve them for carving cooked poultry and larger roast meats – but mostly because they have the perimeter grooves to catch juices.
I read some time back that wood tends to hold bacteria more readily than plastic. I would expect end grain wood to be more likely to do this than face-grain. Some kitchens keep their cutting boards separate (veggies vs meat) to avoid cross contamination of bacteria. Plastic boards can be run through dishwashers, so as to sterilize (?) them.
One important thing I have learned is to avoid applying down-force against a cutting board to avoid bending or chipping the edges of low dps knives. The lower the angle, the lower the pressure the edge can withstand. My Japanese knife has an 8-12 dps edge on it and cutting through crusty bread just smashed the hell out of the edge, regardless of the board’s material. Now I limit its use to gentle slicing of tomatoes and the like.
6 users thanked author for this post.
Now this is a cutting board, I just ordered
http://www.gatorpit.net/store.html
2 users thanked author for this post.
I have a couple of boards in Hinoki (Japanese Cypress) that I really like. I use for veggie prep or cooked proteins. I prefer ones that are just 0.5″ thick as they are easy to store and move around although you can get them thicker if you like that look sitting on your counter full time. They have a very, very mild cypress/citrus smell and naturally suppress mold and bacteria. I have treated them with board oil but they say that isn’t necessary. Hinoki wood is edge friendly.
Like others I use a plastic board for raw meats and once they start to get a bunch of scoring marks from cutting that make them more difficult to clean, I swap them out for a new one.
My end grain wood cutting board lives on my countertop next to the sink and the plastic ones stood up in a lower cabinets. I’ve used the wooden one so much that I got a level out at it’s 6-year mark and laid it out end to end and there was a 1/4″ concave dip in it from my cutting veggies. So I took it out to the workbench and using a belt sander, proceeded to return it to it’s original flat state. Then a coat of polyurethane and I’m good for a few more years.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.