[Rita]

I really need a new cutting board.I used wood for years but with all the bad press about it I went to plastic.Now opinions seem to be shifting again. Help!

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I like the plastic ones just becuse I can through it in the dishwasher at home or have the pearl divers at work run it through their machine.

[m brown]

rita,
go with a nice thick wood board. clean it with bleach when needed and sand it down when it gets too marked up.
the plastic ones are okay to use in conjunction with your big wood boards for cutting small items.

I agree with Ruthy. The decision on wood or plastic can be a hard one. Whereas plastic is easier to maintain, wood has proved to be more sanitary. You cannot get into grooves and cuts in plastic boards as easy as you can wood. Bleach...and you are done. Wood is easier on your knives than the new hard plastic, but plastic is more economical in a commercial sense.

[Ruthy]

I have plastic and wood and cannot say I am in love with either. Now my life has changed. I bought a tuff (rubber) board a couple of months ago. It washes easily; does not stain and does not retain odors (even fish). I rub it with a soapy Dobie pad, rinse off and wipe. I don't even have to take it off the counter. It is very comfortable to use and apparently is not hard on your knives like the plastic boards. I have not yet had the courage to hack it with my cleaver. Does anyone else know if tuff can survive a cleaver attack?

I have always used wood for everything. My family is all alive and well. No one died from us using wood carving board.

I've heard stories of Scottish butchers chasing European Union officials out of their shops with meat-cleavers, apparently insensed by the idea of having their 100 year old, sculpted wooden chopping blocks fall prey to food legislative paranoia.

Personally I will always use wood. But since neither wood nor plastic are likely to kill you (or anyone else)if you clean it properly, I recommend you choose whichever looks nicer in your kitchen.

Wood has the feel of the earth and frankly I feel better working on a real board than I do working on plastic . You will notice the shift in the health dpt. as far as preaching plastic so who knows ? Just use proper sanitation and I dont think you will have any problems . thanks and keep cookin !

[Nicko]

Welcome to the forums Rita, your question is a great one. As for myself I prefer the wood ones, but I always have a few plastic ones around. I have never heard of the rubber ones that Ruthy is talking about, they sound very intersting. Is there a particular brand that you would recommend Ruthy?

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Best Regards,

Nicko
nicko@cheftalk.com

[Ruthy]

They call them rubber in the kitchen supply stores but I honestly think they are a fairly new type of plastic and, as far as I know, only one brand, known as Tuff.They are widely available on the Bowery and in all the Chinese supply stores in New York. You must have similar suppliers in Chicago. I am not concerned about health problems with any of the materials as long as they are kept clean but I love the fact that Tuff, being non porous, does not retain odors and can be just washed and used interchangeably for fish, meat,etc.

[Pete]

At the restaurant I use plastic boards. They are more durable and easier to clean. They are also dishwasher safe. But at home I only use wooden boards. I like the feel and look of them mush more. Just don't put them in the dishmachine. The other plus of wooden boards that no one has mentioned so far is the fact that they can double as a serving tray, cheese board, etc. Would never do that with a plastic board.

I too am looking to move from a plastic cutting board to a wooden one. Do I have to worry about odors and tastes being abosorbed into the wood? I always see people cutting fish and garlic on a wooden board and I wonder how they wash it off.

Pete

[gam]

I use both. If I know that I'm going to be doing a lot of chopping and cutting then I take out my large heavy(5 lbs) wooden board. If I just want to slice a tomato to put into my sandwich, then I grab my plastic board.
By the way, I never bleach my wooden board. I'm never sure that I succeed in getting all the bleach out of the fine cracks, or that the wood soaks up the smell. I sand the board down every now and again and then rub olive oil over it to tone the wood and stop smells from seeping in.

[Nick.Shu]

one way of cleaning wooden chopping boards, is to cover it liberally in salt and leave it for 10 minutes and then brush it down with a wire brush.

The butchers use this method to clean their boards and apparently, it draws all the liquids (especially blood) on a chopping board out and dries it up.

[Nicko]

That is really interesting Nick. When I was in Greece the butchers used thick tree stumps as their chopping blocks. I believe that they used the same method of salting the wood down. By law they were required to plane down the block every 15 days.

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Best Regards,

Nicko
nicko@cheftalk.com