How to care for and maintain your wood cutting boards #6/40

What you need:

• Dishwasher soap.
• Cleaning sponge or brush.
• Processed neutral vegetable oils like canola, sunflower or grapeseed oil.

Procedure:

1. Wash your wood cutting board impeccable clean in hot water and dishwasher soap.
2. Dry off cutting board with kitchen towel and let it further dry in the air standing up on the kitchen table for at least 24 hours.
3. Grease cutting board with a thick layer of oil or beeswax (see below for which type).
4. Let the greased cutting board rest for minimum 5 hours to let it have time to soak up the oil.
5. After 5 hours inspect the cutting board. If it has spots with no visible oil on the surface and looks to have soaked up all the oil then repeat the process of greasing the cutting board with oil and let it rest for another 5 hours.
6. If cutting board after 5 hours of resting is still soaked in oil all over you are done greasing your cutting board and can use a dry paper towel to remove excess oil from your cutting board. After that your cutting board is ready for kitchen business.

Important observations:

• Wood cutting boards should be greased in edible processed vegetable oils like canola, grapeseed or sunflower oil regularly in order for the wood not to dry out and look pale and used. You can also use beeswax or food approved mineral oil.
• Do not use oils for wood furniture maintenance as they are often very toxic.
• Also do not use oils that have a strong taste to them like olive oil or organic or virgin oils as that risk making the food you cut get flavored with this taste.
• If cutting board get miscolored by anything you cut remember to clean it off as quickly as possible before the coloration has time to soak in. A well-oiled cutting board also prevent miscoloring as there is no room for colorant to impregnate cutting board. If dishwasher soap will not get the miscoloring off, try using baking soda and water on a cleaning sponge.

Picture below is the result of greasing my two wood cutting boards. The large one is over 20 years old and the smaller one is only a few weeks old.