How to Clean your Chopping Board for Long-lasting Life?
Getting useful kitchen tools is not enough, maintaining them is just as important for health and hygiene. Here’s how you can easily clean and maintain your chopping board.
Be it to spruce up your kitchen aesthetics or boost your culinary prowess, having a good quality chopping board or cutting board is a must. It is a handy kitchen tool for chopping, dicing, slicing, mincing, and so on. Ideally, you should opt for separate chopping boards for fruits, veggies, meat, poultry, seafood, and dairy products such as cheese and tofu. But, in reality, your purchase options would majorly rest on the quantity and frequency of meals cooked in your kitchen, the type of foods that you consume, as well your kitchen slab area and storage space. Most importantly, an unclean, unventilated, and poorly maintained chopping board can become a breeding ground for harmful bacteria and germs. So knowing the right techniques to clean your chopping board is as crucial as narrowing down on the right one for your kitchen.
Selecting the Right Chopping Board
Before we explore the cleaning dos and don’ts for your chopping board, here are some useful points on selecting the right one that meets your expectations to the hilt.
- Regarding the base material for chopping boards, wooden chopping boards are unanimously hailed as the most-coveted ones by most users.
- There are other options such as plastic, fibre, bamboo, granite, and marble, but wooden chopping boards are the best in terms of:
- functionality/ease of use
- visual-appeal
- durability
- hygiene
- Ensure that the wood used is of premium quality and the finishing is done with food-grade oil. Teak cutting boards with mustard oil, sesame oil, or coconut oil finish are highly recommended. Woodsala has an incredible collection of affordable and durable chopping boards for various requirements.
Handy Tips to Clean and Maintain Your Chopping Board
- The first and foremost thing to remember is that irrespective of the material of your cutting board, tossing it into the dishwasher is the worst thing that you can do to its durability. The harsh washing cycle will cause small cracks and dents on its surface. Even if the damage is inconspicuous, these microscopic abrasions are ideal for toxic microbes to thrive and multiply in.
- The simplest and most effective way to clean a chopping board daily is by using a non-abrasive sponge or brush, warm water, and mild dishwashing soap. First, rinse thoroughly with water to clean away any residual matter from the surface. Then lather the sponge or brush with soap and scrub gently. Once done, rinse thoroughly with warm water and wipe with a clean cloth immediately. If you let it stay wet, the water will seep in and gradually weaken the fibres of the board in the long run. So, hygienically wiping and hanging it out to dry is as important as the cleaning and washing process of the chopping board.
- A cardinal mistake that most of us make is to store the chopping board inside the closet or a non-ventilated area where it remains slightly damp. Airing it or drying it out is the prerequisite for a long-lasting cutting board. The best thing to do is to hang it near your kitchen window where there is ample sunlight seeping in.
- Now that we have understood the daily cleaning procedure for a chopping board, the spring cleaning method is also important. No, you don’t need any special chemicals or tools for this. Just vinegar, baking soda, and a non-abrasive pad. Sprinkle baking soda generously and rub it gently all over the board. Let it lie for a couple of minutes and clean off gently with vinegar and a soft cleaning pad or clean cloth. Once done, rinse with warm water. This method will keep unpleasant smells, stains, and discolouration at bay.
- To retain the sheen of a wooden chopping board, make sure you use edible oil to lightly oil it periodically. Just apply a light coat uniformly with a clean brush or cloth on the thoroughly dried chopping board, and leave it to soak overnight.
Conclusion
In today’s fast-paced world with quick-fix, use-and-throw solutions for everything under the sun, buying cheap products that temporarily serve your purpose has become the norm. Plastic or fibre might seem like a lightweight and inexpensive option, but neither does it have the classy touch, nor the longevity of a high-quality wooden chopping board. Wooden chopping boards are safe, easy to clean and impart a touch of opulence to your kitchen. As long as you follow the aforementioned cleaning and maintaining techniques, you can be assured of a durable chopping board that makes your investment worthwhile.
