Their is a lot to know about wood but it can be simple to use, operate and take care of!
So lets start with don’ts…
A very important thing to keep in mind is that a wood cutting board is not dishwasher safe. The high heat and long times left to soak can de-laminate the board or cause splintering in the wood. Wood boards should be hand washed or if lightly used rinsed and dried. Do not let a cutting board sit in water or sit in juice for a prolonged period of time. If your board does start to de-laminate check out the resurfacing post!
The next don’t with cutting boards would be don’t use serrated knives. if used improperly serrated knifes can deeply gouge into cutting boards. Using a serrated knife is like taking a saw to your wood cutting board…. do you see the issue….. Now to contradict myself, that being said you can use serrated knifes if you are careful not to dig the blade into the board. The ideal cut using a serrated knife cutting bread would be to stop shy of a full cut, then using the tip or final tooth of the serrated blade and drag it across the uncut part of the bread. Doing this a few times before you find how hard to press is preferred over repeatedly sawing into the board.
Do not be afraid to use your cutting board! They may be pretty but they are intended to be used! If you do use your cutting board a lot, do not be afraid to resurface your cutting board! Check out our resurfacing post if you are curious to know what is needed to resurface your board at home, our services for resurfacing or flattening, or what any of this would look like!
Do not leave your cutting board on hot surfaces. Cutting hot food is fine because even if it is straight out of the oven it tends to not contain enough heat in order to damage the cutting board. However if you pop your cutting board on top of your stove after you just cooked, you can burn your cutting board. Or worse if you leave the stove on, especially if you have a gas or exposed flame stove. DO NOT put your wood cutting board anywhere near an open flame stove, this is a fire hazard, fire bad….. well at least in the kitchen.
I know I should not have to say some of these but better to point them out. There are really not to many don’ts with cutting boards, these are just issues that have come up or customers have asked questions about, so more may be added at some point.
Now for the do’s!
The most important thing to do with your cutting board is to occasionally oil it. If your cutting board is starting to feel dry or scratchy its time to oil it again. This can help keep the color, and soft surface of a cutting board. It also helps keep the wood from cracking or splintering. We do make a butchers block polish which is an all natural beeswax and mineral oil mixture. We make our own because it does not contain any dyes but most butchers block polishes, mineral oils or cutting board oils will work too, and be food safe. If you don’t want to buy polish from us most hardware or wood shops carry a butchers block polish that will do.
Do keep your cutting board clean. Keeping your cutting board clean, especially after cutting things like meat. Tighter grained cutting boards have less pores for bacteria to grow in, so something like maple is good or end grain, or side grain cutting boards for meats especially raw. You can cut raw meets on wood cutting boards, however we will say that a plastic cutting board is easier to clean especially with raw meats like chicken and pork’s. But when it comes to veggies and breads cut away!
Now to sound like a broken record, do occasionally refinish your cutting board. If your cutting board sees a lot of use you may wanna think about refinishing it, see our refinishing post to see more.
That it, that really is it, their are not too many things that need to be done to keep your cutting board health and in one piece for years to come!
I hope you enjoy your cutting board from Granite Forge, or wherever you get your wood cutting boards from. We hope you find this information helpful and as always care for things and they will take care of you!