Hi all! We’d like to stop using our plastic cutting boards due to cutting little bits of plastic into our food. Unfortunately, the most obvious alternative, wooden cutting boards, are more of a pain to clean.
I’d love suggestions on what I could use instead. I saw there’s a brand called Epicurean that uses some sort of other material that can be machine washed. Has anyone used them before?
I’d especially love something made in Germany or in the EU, but I’m open to looking farther afield if necessary.
Thank you!
wood boards are surrounded by misconceptions and misunderstanding. Some clarifications follow:
you have to treat and season your wooden board similar to care of cast iron pans. They need to be warmed up, oiled, etc every so often. Grapeseed oil or coconut oil would work.
machine washing is not applicable to wooden boards but also unnecessary. Treated board has anti-microbial properties so quick wash under sink is all it needs
any board other than wood (even among woods I’d stay away from bamboo and oaks etc) has negative effect on your knives - dulling and chipping them so you’ve got to select “softer” type, like cherry or maple.
every now and then you may want to scrape off outter layer of wooden board to “refresh” it or maybe remove the imperfections like cuts and dents
I rarely used anything other than wooden board for the past couple of decades
Better to use mineral oil to condition wood cutting boards since it can’t go rancid.