Cutting boards? page

[Drlove]

Hey,

For years now my mom is cutting all the vegetables and fruits either in the air (indeed), or in a plate.
I thought of offering her to buy a cutting board, thinking it would be a lot more efficient.
Any suggestions of a good cutting board? I looked into it and there seem to be a huge variety. Wood or plastic, anti-bacterial and so. (I think it would be preferable if it could fit in the dish washer, she puts everything there, even after a manual clean-up).


Thanks in advance.

[Damiana]

I actually like a silicon cutting board, it's flexible, easy on the knife, and is easy to clean. I've had wood before and didn't much like it, it damaged easily when I was chopping with very sharp knives and retained food flavors and odors, and of course was hard to clean. I've used a softer plastic one before that was quite nice but degraded over time.

[marthat]

Yeah, more likely to be used if it goes into the dishwasher. Get a little one as well as a big one, as it sounds like she would do most things on a little one anyways.

[twa2w]

Do not buy the antimicrobial - impregnated with triclosan - google if you want to find out il effects
Wood is better than plastic for bacteria although most people believe the opposite.
I have no knowledge of silicon as far as good or bad.
My preference is for natural ie wood. DO some searching on the best types. I have wooden ones that are easy to clean and very durable but it has been so long I don't recall the type of wood. I would avoid Bamboo - to much glue(chemicals) in them.

[Vega]

Studies have shown that wood has antibacterial properties, so I'd go with that. I don't know much about different types of wood, but I take care of my wood cutting board by scrubbing it right after use, and then keeping it coating with a little coconut oil.

[Turnstone]

If you buy a wooden one, get one that is made of one piece of wood. I had a nice wooden cutting board and put it in the dishwasher once. After that I had lots of pieces of wood in my dishwasher

[Drlove]

Thanks for all the answers. It does seem wood is the better choice. It just seems that it wouldn't fit in the dishwasher, and that's probably a no-go for my mom. Are plastic ones that bad?

[marthat]

Wooden boards can't go in the dishwasher. There's nothing inherently wrong with plastic. Speaking as a mom who just got my first dishwasher at age 51, just over a year ago, I can tell you that I love my new plastic cutting boards and my old wooden ones only get pulled out on occasion. If you want to change you mom's cutting behaviors, make it easy for her. Go for plastic or silicon (I have no experience with silicon, but it comes highly recommended above.

[ryanmercer]

Thanks for all the answers. It does seem wood is the better choice. It just seems that it wouldn't fit in the dishwasher, and that's probably a no-go for my mom. Are plastic ones that bad?

Why wouldn't it fit in the dishwasher, you don't have to buy a several foot long one, they've got them in all the same sizes as any other material.

[Vega]

See this article below. If she gets a plastic one, then she does need to be very careful with it.

UC-Davis Food Safety Laboratory: Cutting Board Research

"We soon found that disease bacteria such as these were not recoverable from wooden surfaces in a short time after they were applied, unless very large numbers were used. New plastic surfaces allowed the bacteria to persist, but were easily cleaned and disinfected. However, wooden boards that had been used and had many knife cuts acted almost the same as new wood, whereas plastic surfaces that were knife-scarred were impossible to clean and disinfect manually, especially when food residues such as chicken fat were present. Scanning electron micrographs revealed highly significant damage to plastic surfaces from knife cuts.

Although the bacteria that have disappeared from the wood surfaces are found alive inside the wood for some time after application, they evidently do not multiply, and they gradually die. They can be detected only by splitting or gouging the wood or by forcing water completely through from one surface to the other. If a sharp knife is used to cut into the work surfaces after used plastic or wood has been contaminated with bacteria and cleaned manually, more bacteria are recovered from a used plastic surface than from a used wood surface."