What woods are not good for cutting boards?
Avoid woods that are soft, porous, or toxic for cutting boards. Softwoods include balsa, cedar, juniper pine, redwood spruce, and Douglas fir. Porous wood includes mahogany, black walnut, butternut, oak, and ash. Toxic wood includes pine, birch, western red cedar, American mahogany, and rosewoods.
However, glass cutting boards are the worst for your knives. For this reason we don't recommend glass cutting boards. Your kitchen should have at least two cutting boards, one wood and one plastic. A wood cutting board is the best for prepping fruits and vegetables.
Types of Wood to Use
Dense hardwood lumber with a closed grain like maple, walnut and cherry are among the best cutting board materials. The choice of wood should be free of warps, have a flat surface and doesn't have any blemishes or excessive knots on the surface.
For you tree enthusiasts, you may recognize that oak is a hardwood, but is not often used in cutting boards. The reason is that oak, while hard, has very large pores. When these pores are cut through they are visible to the naked eye.
The best way to make a cutting board with pine is to use the end grain for the cutting surface to minimize cutting marks and to increase strength. Pine is a good and cheap alternative to use as wood for a cutting board, but it will be inferior in performance compared to hardwoods like maple, walnut, and teak.
Bamboo absorbs very little moisture and resists scarring from knives, so they are more resistant to bacteria than other woods. Clean bamboo cutting boards with hot soapy water; sanitize if desired.
According to the Meat and Poultry Hotline, both wood and nonporous surfaces like plastic are sanitary for cutting raw meat and poultry. However, it recommends using one cutting board for fresh produce and bread and a different board for raw meat, poultry, and seafood.
No. Cedar is not good for cutting boards because Cedar is too soft to use as a cutting board. Cut marks will be visible on Cedar very deep, and hard to clean. Also, cedar oil could be toxic as well.
Maple — specifically, sugar maple or hard maple — is the most popular choice for cutting boards. Maple is a hard, closed-grain wood. This means that it's durable, able to resist bacteria, and features just the right amount of hardness.
The best cutting board material is one that can be easily cleaned, and doesn't damage or dull knives. Common options for cutting board material are wood, plastic, rubber, and bamboo. Wood cutting boards are superior for their hard-wearing and self-healing properties, and their ability to preserve a knife edge.
Is walnut OK for a cutting board?
Walnut wood is one of our favorite choices for a cutting board not only because it's so durable and versatile, but also because it looks amazing.
1. Maple. Both soft and hard maple make for excellent cutting surfaces. But hard maple (1,450 lbf on the Janka hardness scale) is the industry standard among cutting board makers: It's more scratch- and impact-resistant than beech, teak, or walnut but not so hard that it will dull your knives.
Hickory isn't good for cutting boards. Hickory is an open-grained wood with a more porous wood structure. The food particle can trap inside small spaces of Hickory wood and bacteria can grow in the pores. Open-grained wood is not suitable for cutting boards.
Material. When it comes to the best plastic cutting boards, you'll want to choose a high-quality, high-density polypropylene or polyethylene. If properly maintained, the construction shouldn't crack, warp, or chip.
Do: Use marble for working with doughs for pies, biscuits, homemade pastas, and other baked goods because it's naturally nonstick and stays cool to the touch. Don't: Chop anything (especially veggies). Marble can damage knives and dangerous slips can happen easily.
The best cutting board material is one that can be easily cleaned, and doesn't damage or dull knives. Common options for cutting board material are wood, plastic, rubber, and bamboo. Wood cutting boards are superior for their hard-wearing and self-healing properties, and their ability to preserve a knife edge.
Yes, but you should still use a cutting board. Granite's durability makes it one of the most popular countertop materials. It's the perfect place to set down hot pots and pans. But using a cutting board atop the granite will help to protect the sealant as well as your knife.