Some people say that wooden chopping boards are not terribly healthy - with wood being porous, and with chopping causing lots of little nicks and scratches, it's a breeding ground for bacteria and well, just asking for trouble - they say. Except that they then tend to go on to say that you should use plastic instead.
And I'm sorry, but I really don't want to. Keeping your chopping boards clean and dry, and using a separate board for raw meat really ought to be enough to keep the lid on harmful bacteria, so I choose wood.
But wood is porous, and one of the things that seeps into the pores is smell, none more than onion and garlic. Now, I like my aliums, but I don't necessarily want the whole kitchen to smell of them, all the time - and this is what I do about it.
Take a tin of mustard powder. Wash your chopping board as usual, then sprinkle mustard powder liberally over both sides and rub it in with your fingers. Leave alone for at least ten minutes, then wash with washing up liquid.
All you should be able to smell now is a faint tang of mustard..... And by the time your chopping board dries, that will be gone, too.
Simples.
Or use bicarb, sprinkle on, wait 1/2 an hour and rinse.
ReplyDeleteGood one for when there's no mustard powder around - bicarb works for so many things, doesn't it ? Thanks Kim :o)
DeleteOh I'm really with you on this one, wooden chopping boards are so much better for your kitchen and your health. Much more hygienic too, the bacteria die as the board dries out between uses. I just make sure all meat products are chopped on the back of the boards and then I know that the fronts are all suitable for veggies etc.
ReplyDeleteI once had a sliver of plastic in my meal from someone who had chopped rather enthusiastically on her bright red chopping board ... YUK!!
Yuk indeed. I've never had a wood splinter in my food, and I can be rather a heavy chopper....
DeleteA great tip. I would only ever use wood. I've heard it has natural anti-bacterial properties. And bacteria don't live on dry surfaces for very long. Wood always wins over plastic in my book - renewable and compostable and sustainable. Love it.
ReplyDeleteYep, keep it clean and keep it dry, and there is no problem.
DeleteI find it astonishing that anyone wold think that plastic is safer than wood. The research on one vs the other was done 2 decades ago and in this day of the internet there is no excuse for people not to know that wood is safer. The cite to prove that is here:
ReplyDeletehttp://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/docliver/Research/cuttingboard.htm
Oh, I can think of lots of excuses - "The dog ate my computer", for instance..... But not many of them are very good, are they ? Thanks for the link, Anon.
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