Cooking For Engineers

[SgtNickFury]

I have a heavy duty Butcher's cutting board we got for wedding present I dearly love, but I'm wondering about cleaning it, it already has stains of colors from fruits and veggies that were cut on it........

I clean usually with regular dishwashing liquid and scrubpad/cloth, then I usually put on some mineral oil afterwords......if I can't get the stains out I can live with that, but i do wonder given the porous nature of wood, if where there are stains, there can be bacteria........this is a BIG BIG block no way I can get it in the sink.

[DrBiggles]

[danemodsandy]

Hi:

If the cutting board is small enough to go in a sink, it will also probably help to wash it down with water in which you have put a small amount of household bleach. Try about 2 tablespoons in a quart of water. This both lightens stains and sanitises. Rinse VERY thoroughly. Once you have the board clean, oil it; oiling helps keep stains from penetrating into the wood. Use mineral oil from the drugstore for this; it's safe for human ingestion. Other oils, like furniture polish and lemon oil, contain petroleum distillates, not good for ingestion. Wipe a heavy coat of mineral oil onto your board, and let it soak in. Repeat if the board soaks it all up. If necessary, repeat again.

If you have your board well-saturated with mineral oil, other fats and meat juices are not able to soak into the board, because the mineral oil is already in the little voids between the cells of the wood. Mineral oil is cheap, safe, and easy to find. P.S.- periodic sanding of any wood board is a good idea, to renew the surface, but go easy.

Hope this helps.

[senojjones]

I clean plastic cutting boards with isopropyl alcohol. It removes grease, and evaporates quickly leaving nothing behind. I suspect it will kill any bacteria.

I also clean granite counters with isopropyl.

I once had an entire meal ruined because we had left soap on a cutting board, it does little to the flavor of steak.

[GaryProtein]

Disinfectants available for home use won't kill all bacteria and viruses, but they will kill the ones you would be concerned about in your home. The truth is, a 70% ethyl alcohol solution (7 parts ethyl alcohol and 3 parts water is a much better surface disinfectant than the 70% isopropyl alcohol sold in drug stores. You can make it with denatured alcohol from a hardware store. The 70% solution is a medically accepted surface disinfectant. On a plastic cutting board, just apply it, let it stay wet and wipe it off 5 minutes later and rinse. On wood boards a 10% bleach solution (one part clorox to nine parts water) for a few minutes and then blot dry and then rinse it off with a wet paper towel and blot dry, will also do the trick. Don't worry about the chlorine, it dissipates when it dries.

[bozzy]

Wood cutting boards have some natural antibacteral properties, so after you've washed with soap and water, there is a good chance whatever bacteria is left in the grooves won't survive in the wood after you dry it.

With plastic boards, it's a little different... The plastic can actually trap the bacteria in the grooves which will be hard to get rid of in a heavily used board. Once a plastic board gets to the point where you can no longer remove the stains, it's probably time to replace it to be safe.

More info on cutting boards at

http://damngoodrecipes.com/articles/18_WhichCuttingBoardtoUse.html

[SirShazar]

[Guest]

[SirShazar]

Wow, I missed that. I apologize.

[The BoardSMITH]

Some stains can be removed using hydrogen peroxide. Apply to a cloth or towel and blot the stain. Some, it not all, will be removed but it takes time. Just keep the board clean and oiled which will help to repel stains.

[ERdept]

Boardsmith,

Just wanted to say Hi. I've commissioned you to do the Japanese butcher board, based table, outside of this forum. Glad we bumped into each other here.

I found you on the Japanese chef's knife sharpening site.