How to care for your chopping board
How to care for your chopping board
You can't beat a wooden chopping board.
But over time, with frequent use, your board can begin to get rough and dry to the touch and stop looking its best.
But not all is lost. With a little TLC, you can get your board looking, if not brand new, certainly a lot fresher again.
Here are some dos and don'ts when it comes to wooden chopping boards. And some tips on refreshing your old board.
DON'T...
- Put it in the dishwasher.
Wood, unlike your plastic or glass chopping boards, is porous. Aside from the water and heat damage, your board will absorb the chemicals in the cleaning products used in the dishwasher.
- Leave it to soak in water.
Again, wood is porous and will absorb moisture like a sponge. Getting wood wet isn't a problem but drying it without the wood warping or splitting is difficult.
- Leave it near a heat source.
Direct sunlight on hot days or near an oven, radiator, log burner etc.
DO...
- Wipe over with hot soapy water and/or an antibacterial spray to clean.
- Pay attention to any natural edges/holes or engraving as that is where the food will get stuck.
A cocktail stick is perfect for picking out any debris.
- Leave to dry thoroughly before putting away. Propped up on the draining board is fine as long as it's not stood in a puddle.
(Be mindful on hot days of leaving it too long in the sun).
- Oil your board regularly.
OILING YOUR BOARD
Wood naturally contains oils that get washed out over time, leaving the wood very rough and dry to the touch. To remedy this, you can wipe over your board with oil.
You can buy specific food-safe mineral oil for chopping boards. Or, you can use any food oil that you cook with (but be mindful of any allergies your guests may have, rapeseed, sesame etc).
If you are going to use food oil, it is best to stick to vegetable oil or olive oil). Also, be aware that food oil can occasionally go rancid.
Food safe oil is a pure natural mineral oil. It can be bought online or from Ikea (in the chopping board section).
How often you oil the board is entirely up to you and how much time you have. Ideally, you would do it every time you wash your boards, but practically that's not always possible.
The edges of the board and inside the handhole or around the handle (if you have one) will need/take more oil.
TIP - put cling film on your worktop, so you don't have to clean up the oil afterwards!
Make sure the board is thoroughly dry before you oil it.
Pour some oil on a clean piece of kitchen roll and wipe inside the hand hole (if you have one) and around the edges of the board.
Then place your board flat on the cling film and pour a 10p size pool of oil on the board and wipe it all over. Turn the board over and do the same on the other side.
Be generous. You can't use too much oil.
Leave the oil to soak in for as long as you have (5 minutes or overnight is fine), then wipe off any excess and put away.
If your board is particularly rough to the touch, you can give it a light sand by hand with a piece of 180 grit or finer sandpaper. Just a 2-minute rub all over will suffice. Wipe over with a dry cloth/tea towel, then oil as above.
If your board needs a rougher sanding, make sure you sand with the grain, not against, and go up the grits (ex. 80 - 120 - 150 - 180), so you don't add more scratches than you remove!
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