Wood cutting boards do indeed take a little more care and maintenance than glass or plastic cutting boards.... But here at the shack, we feel that the extra care is all part of the history and connection with your board. It will add to the richness of your kitchen and all the meals prepared there.
There are many schools of thought when it comes to caring for your cutting boards. In this page we will give you what we think is the best way to care for your boards.
Firstly it's important that good food safety practices be used regardless of the type of board you have, wood, plastic or otherwise....
Public enemy number one....
- Don't soak your board or put it in the dishwasher. Time and water together are the number one enemy of your board.
It is 100% natural wood and will warp and crack if you let it soak up too much water.
Water can be sneaky! If you lay a board down on your counter in a puddle that you didn't see and go to bed.... Well, your board doesn't really know what's good for it. It will probably think it's a treat and suck that stuff up before you come back and catch it... Not good.
Food Safe Finishes:
Safety, quality and the environment are a primary concerns for us. For those reasons we us only the best quality food safe, non-toxic finishes on our cutting boards.
Your board comes pre-seasoned with 3 coats of the finest products available that are designed to give it a long lasting protective finish.
The final coat is a special mixture of Polymerized Linseed Oil and Bees Wax. In the event that you need to reapply finish to your board it's best to use a commercially available Bees Wax base product or contact us and we will have small containers of the product we use available for purchase.
Cleaning Your Board:
Around here we use warm soapy water to clean our boards as soon after use as possible. Rinse with clean water, wipe excess water off with a towel and put it aside to dry. Make sure you it is upright or on edge so that it can dry evenly over as much of the board as possible.
If you find the need for more stringent cleaning, your board can be treated to some extent like a seasoned cast iron pan. A slice of lemon used to scrub it with a coarse salt will go a long way toward getting your board clean and disinfected. This will hasten the need to reapply finish so we do that around here as little as possible.