Why Choose A Wooden Chopping Board?

Every cook needs a chopping board, and wooden ones are a traditional type, giving a solid and sturdy surface for all your chopping and slicing activities. Regrettably, wooden boards fell out of favour somewhat during the 1990s after certain hygiene experts declared them unhygienic, and plastic or marble boards were promoted as being a better choice.

Such fads come and go though, and wooden boards are once again to the fore and are now regarded as perfectly hygienic and possessed of other benefits too. Is this true, and if so why?

As far as hygiene is concerned, plastic chopping boards will over time become scratched, scarred, pitted and otherwise damaged by knives, and these grooves in the board can offer dangerously good environments for bacteria to breed. Although wooden boards will be similarly damaged, the porous nature of wood means that once the board is washed, any remaining bacteria will be drawn into the wood itself and will not infect the surface, dying soon enough anyway.

Scientific tests have also shown that wood is more hygienic than marble chopping boards, but a more significant concern for cooks with marble is the damage that these boards can do to knives - you're sure to end up with blunt blades in short order. There's also a safety aspect to marble boards, as they're prone to causing your knife to skid sideways on impact while chopping, risking injury to your fingers.

Wooden Chopping Board Care

The big problems with wooden boards tend to involve water - they're no good in a dishwasher, and if left to soak they'll tend to warp, bend and split. So long as you don't let stains dry in though, cleaning need only be a matter of a good wipe with a hot wet cloth, or at worst a thorough wash in a little hot soapy water with a comprehensive dry afterwards.

The best way to make your board easy to clean is to oil it from time to time to help the surface to stay smooth. You'll see many expensive oils advertised as being perfect for this job, but in truth any cooking oil will do so long as it's not too flavoursome.

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