Cutting boards - wood, plastic, glass or some sort of composite?

[cantdrv55]

I’ve been using plastic boards for a very long time because I read somewhere that bacteria can’t be cleaned off wood boards. My BIL , whom I consider a great cook, swears by his wood boards. He uses bleach wipes on them then wash off with soap and air dry.

What do you guys use and how do you clean your boards?

[Alan A]

Wood for everything that’s not raw meat. Separate boards for fruit and everything else (chop onion then strawberry if you aren’t sure why).

Dishwasher safe plastic for raw meat.

[Gogar]

flexible plastic in a 3-4 pack for me. Unbeatable when you fold em into a chute and right into a bowl, never have to pick up any stragglers off the floor.

[flatbutt]

Wood for everything. A good scrub with hot soapy water and let it dry. It is essential that it dry completely. I'm not dead yet.

[peppy]

Wood. To clean just soap and water, unless there is raw meat then soap and water and a cap full of bleach.

https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/10/health/wooden-cutting-boards-found-safer-than-plastic.html

"The scientists, Dean O. Cliver and Nese O. Ak, stumbled upon the finding while seeking ways to decontaminate wooden boards and make them as "safe" as plastic. Much to their surprise, they found that when boards were purposely contaminated with organisms like Salmonella, Listeria and Escherichia coli that are common causes of food poisoning, 99.9 percent of the bacteria died off within three minutes on the wooden boards, while none died on the plastic ones.

When contaminated boards were left unwashed overnight at room temperature, bacterial counts increased on the plastic, but none of the organisms could be recovered from the wooden boards the next morning."

[wdfifteen]

I only use wood to cut bread.

I use plastic for everything else.
Plastic is super easy to clean, easy on the knives, and I can store 4 or 5 of the thin ones I use for small items in the space it takes for one 1/2" wooden board. You can fold them and pour your chopped vegetables right in the bowl.

The wooden bread boards just get wiped off with a dry towel.
The plastic goes in the dish washer. Soapy water at 140 degrees gets them clean. No scrubbing, no bleach, just soap an hot water.
Never use glass or an iPad unless you like dull, chipped knives.

[john70t]

Wood board here. Soaked with olive oil. Occasionally sand off the marks.

[Evans, Marv]

Originally Posted by peppy

Wood. To clean just soap and water, unless there is raw meat then soap and water and a cap full of bleach.

https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/10/health/wooden-cutting-boards-found-safer-than-plastic.html

"The scientists, Dean O. Cliver and Nese O. Ak, stumbled upon the finding while seeking ways to decontaminate wooden boards and make them as "safe" as plastic. Much to their surprise, they found that when boards were purposely contaminated with organisms like Salmonella, Listeria and Escherichia coli that are common causes of food poisoning, 99.9 percent of the bacteria died off within three minutes on the wooden boards, while none died on the plastic ones.

When contaminated boards were left unwashed overnight at room temperature, bacterial counts increased on the plastic, but none of the organisms could be recovered from the wooden boards the next morning."

I only use a wood cuttiing board because of the above. I'll clean it with Dawn and warm water and occasionally liberally apply food grade mineral oil, let it sit for a while, wipe it down, & let it dry. That's been working for me for years.

[Zeke]

A cabinet scraper is just the thing for wood boards. I 2nd the plastic sheets to transfer the cuttings to the pan/pot.

[GH85Carrera]

I lived as a bachelor until age 38. I learned to cook my meals and figured it out without the help of the internet as it had not been invented as yet.

My house had a dishwasher with a wood chopping board top. It was not some thin veneer, but solid wood make of the typical slabs of different woods, glued together into a decorative pattern. I used it for everything, beef, pork, chicken, vegies, fruit and whatever need copping for the 26 years I lived there. It got a wipe down with soapy water on a dishrag after use, but never bleach or disinfectant.

I guess I did not realize I was flirting with food poisoning, but I never once had an episode of it, and I ate a lot of rare steaks and burgers from it.

We have a wooden and a plastic chopping board, and the wife takes care to clean them her way.

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by Gogar

flexible plastic in a 3-4 pack for me. Unbeatable when you fold em into a chute and right into a bowl, never have to pick up any stragglers off the floor.

And awesome for travel - like the "delis" you might get your egg drop soup in. If you need to, there are no tears in dumping them in the trash. (and light/convenient/etc).

Nearly the same deal with those little french folding knives. >$10, sharp as heck, fun to customize and if I'm careless and the TSA comes knocking - into the trash...

[billybek]

I prep back and side ribs on a big wooden cutting board and it is messy.

One of the chefs from work told me that wood has a natural anti bacterial effect but after raw meat, cover the board in sea or kosher salt and wet until you make a slurry on the board. Let is sit for a while and use the abrasiveness of the slurry to scrub the board.

Always seems to clean up well which is more than I can say for myself lately...

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by billybek

I prep back and side ribs on a big wooden cutting board and it is messy.

One of the chefs from work told me that wood has a natural anti bacterial effect but after raw meat, cover the board in sea or kosher salt and wet until you make a slurry on the board. Let is sit for a while and use the abrasiveness of the slurry to scrub the board.

Always seems to clean up well which is more than I can say for myself lately...

I use salt scrub on my cast iron when I mess up and burn something.

[cstreit]

Plastic here. Put them in the dishwasher in the sanitize cycle.

[masraum]

Never glass unless you hate your knives or prefer to saw food.

Wood is supposedly anti-bacterial.

I've seen on a cooking show that (not sure if it's nightly, weekly, whatever) some chefs will pour a bunch of salt on their boards, then rub the salt in with half a lemon, and let that sit over night. Salt kills germs, I think lemon (acidic) also kills germs, and is an anti-oxidant.
https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-clean-wooden-cutting-boards-with-lemon-and-salt-cleaning-lessons-from-the-kitchn-195151

I've had/used plastic, and in certain environments, they are probably great/ideal. But I prefer a nice edge or end grain cutting board.

[jyl]

Big thick wood board, from a restaurant supply store, with plastic sheets if cutting meat etc. I like the feel of blades on wood. Occasionally scrub it down with soap and salt.

[jcommin]

I use wood and plastic. I clean the wood board using salt and a green scrub pad. Let dry and I oils it down using a oil for wood boards.