A good quality cutting board is essential not only for ease of food prep but is also important to extend the lives of your knives. With all the options available it can be hard to know which is the best or safest material to use. Read on to find out more:
Which Cutting Board Material is More Sanitary?
Warning: This isn't exactly black and white and can get a bit confusing. There are many options available and it isn't enough to just consider wood vs. plastic boards. There are many different kinds of wood with varying hardness levels as well as how the boards are constructed (edge-grain vs end-grain) that will affect how sanitary they are.
When plastic cutting boards came onto the market, they were thought to be easier to sanitize, but with further study, food safety experts realized that plastic cutting boards tend to get deep scratches and grooves that can harbour dangerous bacteria. If you have a dishwasher-safe plastic cutting board, you could reserve it for only cutting raw meat or fish. This will make sure you don't cross contaminate your other boards with dangerous bacteria and you can sanitize it in the dishwasher after use. (wooden cutting boards should never go in the dishwasher). When your plastic cutting board has deep scratches it is time to throw it out. Never have your plastic cutting boards planed, this will result in a very smooth and hard surface that dulls knives very fast.
Wooden cutting boards are naturally anti-microbial and have the ability to self-heal; meaning knife cuts can close back up leaving a smoother surface which is easier to keep clean. Boards made from hardwood are fine-grained and are more naturally anti-microbial than boards made from softwood. Unfortunately, hardwood boards are also harder on your knives, especially if you are using more delicate hand-forged Japanese knives.
So what to do? Here at The Cook's Edge, we love end-grain wooden cutting boards for the majority of our food prep tasks.
End-Grain vs. Edge-Grain Cutting Boards, What's the Difference?
- End-Grain Cutting Boards- These boards are composed of many pieces of cut wood that are arranged vertically and fused together, creating a checkerboard pattern. End-grain boards don't show scratches very easily and have a good ability to self-heal knife cuts. (We love Larch Wood End-Grain Cutting Boards, they are exceptional)
- Edge-Grain Cutting Boards- This type of board is made from a solid piece of wood or strips of wood that are fused together. Edge-grain boards are typically less expensive than end-grain boards since they are easier to construct. They don't have as much ability to self-heal and tend to show cuts and scratches more than end-grain cutting boards. They will have a harder cutting surface (especially if constructed from hardwood) and can dull your knives more quickly.
Common Cutting Board Materials to Avoid:
Glass- The least knife-friendly cutting board material there is. Glass is extremely hard and will damage your knife.
Bamboo- This is a popular cutting board material but bamboo can be harder than some hardwood cutting boards and will dull your knife very quickly.
Composite Wood- These boards are made to be durable but are too hard and will dull or damage your knives.
If you already own boards made of these materials, you can repurpose them as serving boards! Or make sure you only use your lower quality knives on them.
How Many Cutting Boards Do You Need?
- For the meat-eaters: To avoid cross-contamination, it is a good idea to have a separate board that you only use for raw meat and fish.
- This is just personal preference but at our house, we have a large cutting board that we use for most of our food prep, including onions and garlic which can leave a lingering taste and smell even after cleaning your board. We also have a smaller board exclusively for cutting fresh fruit and other foods that we don't want to have any trace of onion or garlic flavour.
In our next blog post, we will go into detail on cutting board care. Stay tuned!