One of the best ways to reduce bacteria on your wooden cutting board is to keep it clean. Routine maintenance and cleaning with adding oil to your wood cutting board will certainly help the longevity. It will also help reduce staining. Food such as strawberries can stain your wood cutting board if it isn’t properly “seasoned”. More on how to season your board will come in a later article.
Many soaps, even organic cleaning prodcuts, can cause the natural oils and resins in your board to be lifted from the wood fibers further reducing the life span of your board. Also, once your board has been stripped of its oil, it will “drink” moisture from whatever you put on it. This can lead to bacteria development…
And never clean your cutting board in a dishwasher! The high heat and steam caused from the water will destroy the cutting board in a single pass.
So let’s focus on what you will need:
- Lemon juice. Either from a raw lemon or juice. Both work just fine.
- Rock salt. The bigger the pieces of salt the better.
- Apply lemon juice to all side of the cutting board. Then apply the rock salt. You want this “solution” to sit on your board for at least 5 minutes. The juice will work down into the board while the salt will provide a food safe scrubbing gent.
- Now scrub your board. If your using raw lemon, the peel of the lemon works great for scrubbing while keeping your hands safe.
- Rinse your wood cutting board off with water. Do not use soap!
Once you have completed this process you will need to apply oil in order to seal the wood fibers. My custom-blended protective oil is the perfect mix of oil and wax that will really put a nice finish on your wood cutting board. It is made with 100% organic beeswax and is a premium finish that will last months. A well maintained wood cutting board will last you a lifetime. Preserve and protect your investment with this custom batched wood cutting board “butter” :
https://www.woodcuttingboardstore.com/product/wood-cutting-board-butter/
How have you cleaned your wooden cutting boards? What have you seen has worked and not worked? If you have any methods or suggestions, shoot me an email! I would love to hear from you.