Wood Cutting Board and Butcher Block Care and Maintenance

 

Most wooden reducing forums and cutting blocks are made from stable hardwoods. Woods together with bamboo, birch, maple & teak are very famous for the construction of cutting boards. There are three extraordinary types of board production: Flat-grain – this kind is made by means of gluing forums with the grain side-with the aid of-aspect (like on eating room tables or other fixtures). These forums amplify side to facet. They may additionally get wider in the summer time (if there’s moisture in the air) and cut back inside the wintry weather (while the heat from your furnace dries out the surface). Edge-grain – this kind is made with the aid of gluing boards of the same width together face-to-face, so the surface has the brink of the forums showing. These boards amplify up and down, like fitness center flooring or timber truck beds. End-grain – this type starts off as flat grain panels that are reduce throughout the wide grain to the preferred thickness of the board and then glued face-to-face exposing the ends of the forums. This offers it a unique checkerboard appearance. It also makes a super reducing surface as the knife blade cuts into the end fibers which minimizes cut marks and splintering.

Whatever the construction, all need care with the intention to come up with a few years of use. The most important hints are: Keep your board easy. Don’t allow it soak in water or positioned it inside the dishwasher. Keep your board properly-oiled/pro.

After each use, wash your wooden slicing floor with a slight dish cleaning soap and warm water. Rinse properly and dry with a fabric. Then permit it air-dry absolutely (bacteria die when they aren’t kept moist). To sanitize the surface, you may want to wipe your reducing board with white vinegar after use. Vinegar works nicely in opposition to salmonella, E. Coli and staphylococcus. You can apply it with a paper towel or, for ease of use, have a sprig bottle full of vinegar reachable for your kitchen. ALWAYS CLEAN THE CUTTING BOARD SURFACE THOROUGHLY IF YOU’VE CUT UP FISH OR POULTRY.

When slicing garlic or onion and reducing fish, getting some food odors in your board is unavoidable. To eliminate these odors, you can rub your board with coarse salt, lemon, or baking soda. Let it stand on the board for a couple of minutes, then wipe off the floor. Rinse properly and permit it to dry.

DO NOT soak your forums (or any other timber utensils) in water or they’ll crack and distort! DO NOT location them in a dishwasher to easy them. Because of the manner maximum slicing boards & butcher blocks are made (gluing portions of timber together) doing this will reason your board to fall to pieces!

To prevent staining and to preserve food odors and micro organism from developing at the surface, hold your board well-oiled. Use an oil that can be implemented time and again, together Wood cutting board with mineral oil. Mineral oil is clear, tasteless, odorless, safe round meals and will fill the wood pores. Stay far from olive, fruit and vegetable oils, or animal fats, as those oils can cross rancid through the years. Be sure your board is easy and dry, then wipe the oil on your cutting board in a good layer using a easy, soft material or paper towel. Wait for it to soak into the wood (for at least a few hours or in a single day works too!). Add more oil if necessary if there are dry spots. Wipe/buff off any extra oil with a easy, dry cloth. When you first get your wooden slicing board or butcher block, you could want to do this as soon as every week for three weeks and then as soon as a month for 3 months. From then on, once a month, or extra frequently if you use your slicing board substantially, need to do the trick. End-grain forums require extra oil than the flat-grain or part-grain forums because the oil is going deeper into the end-grain fibers. REMEMBER YOUR BOARD LOVES TO BE OILED!

After your board has been pro, you may additionally use a beeswax/oil combination (half of tsp. Of beeswax microwaved with 1 cup of mineral oil for forty five seconds implemented to the board while it is warm) each 6 months for a water resistant floor. This protects the wooden from wear and tear and gives it an extended existence. (You can also rub a small block of hard beeswax at an perspective throughout your board surface and edges & rubdown it into the board together with your arms. This basically water-proofs the floor).

To freshen up your reducing board, in among seasonings, slice a fresh lemon in 1/2 and rub it onto the surfaces of your reducing board.

Even with this care, DO NOT permit liquids to stand on your cutting board for extended durations of time. Wipe water, juice, brine and the juices from sparkling meat off your board as quickly as possible to prevent it from soaking into the timber, that can reason the slicing board to extend, the wooden to soften, and the power of the glued joints to go to pot. Even the usage of a very good metallic scraper or spatula will help preserve the slicing surface clean and sanitary. Scraping the floor can get rid of 75% of the moisture.

If your board is reversible, flip it over and use the opposite side regularly. And use extraordinary areas of your board for reducing – do not do all of your cutting inside the middle of the board or that area will wear more quickly!