What is the best wood to use for cutting board?
This is a question you may have asked yourself or the salesperson from the store. Or it’s the first time you come across it.
The truth is this is a crucial aspect when choosing a cutting board for your kitchen.
Not any wood type is suitable for making cutting boards. These materials need to have a certain resistance and durability.
You use one type of wood for a cutting board and another one for a wooden phone case.
So how do you find out what is the best wood to use for cutting board? Let’s take a look at the characteristics of a good wood for these products to have a more clear idea.
Characteristics of a great wood for cutting boards
Cutting boards are made of different types of wood, but they have a few characteristics in common.
Durability
Woods are generally separated into two categories:
- hardwoods
- softwoods
Cutting boards are usually made of hardwoods. They have a higher density, which makes them harder and more resistant.
When speaking of a product on which you cut regularly, you want a strong material to manufacture a high-quality cutting board.
Some hardwoods used for producing cutting boards are maple, walnut, and teak.
Toxicity
Wood can be toxic under certain circumstances.
When products are manufactured and workers deal with raw wood, they are exposed to wood dust. It can cause irritations and even poisoning.
Although consumers are not exposed to wood dust, there is a big question whether wood can leach resin or oils into food.
This is the reason why rare or exotic woods are not used for products like cutting boards. They are not the best wood for cutting board.
Eco-friendliness
Eco-friendliness is another aspect that needs to be considered when looking for the best wood for cutting board.
Some trees grow slowly and it takes them decades to reach maturity.
It’s crucial to pay attention to what trees are used to manufacture these products.
If you’re interested in the best wood to use for cutting board, find out more about dishwasher safe wood cutting board.
What is the best wood to use for cutting board?
If you were to look at the cutting boards from different stores, you would see they are usually made of:
- maple
- bamboo
- walnut
- cherry
- teak
There may be other types of wood, but these are a few common examples.
Can you guess which one (from the above examples) is not a type of wood?
Bamboo is the only example which is a type of grass, and not of wood.
It may surprise you to know that bamboo makes one of the greatest materials for cutting boards. It’s resistant, durable and does a great job in taking care of your health.
Let me detail all these aspects.
Bamboo is a resistant material
Bamboo is a resisting material, which makes it great for products like cutting boards.
Just think of the moments when you have to cut something hard. You apply pressure to the cutting board.
Bamboo resists to these pressures and it’s kind of hard to crack it.
Also, bamboo cutting boards do not absorb liquids. This is an amazing advantage because it prevents them from cracking and warping.
Bamboo can keep bacteria away
Do you know the small cracks that form on your cutting board?
They form in time, mostly due to knife cutting.
Those are the perfect places for bacteria to hide. They can dry really hard, so this makes it an even better environment for bacteria to survive (they like wet environments).
Because bamboo is relatively hard to crack, it’s not the best place for bacteria to live.
If you want to know more about keeping bacteria away, check out how a hypoallergenic vacuum cleaner works.