If you are considering or have finally decided to make the shift to using wooden cutting board (or perhaps using it alongside with your other ones), it’s now only proper that you also know or learn how to clean wooden chopping board.
One key factor to ensure that you’ll experience and enjoy all the pros of using a solid wood cutting board is keeping it properly cleaned and maintained. And worry not because, it’s unbelievably easy. Contrary to what you might have thought of it (I used to actually), that cleaning wooden chopping board is quite a chore – it turns out that it’s not. It’s really not.
Basically, there are only two steps to clean your wooden cutting board, steps 1 and 2. All the other steps are for when you want to remove stain or odor, if you want to disinfect it, and for a monthly or quarterly wooden chopping board maintenance.
So, shall we start?
How to Clean Wooden Chopping Board
1. Use a sponge or scrubber to clean food residue on the chopping board, preferably in warm water.
Clean your chopping board immediately after use – don’t let it sit in the kitchen for too long especially when you used it in prepping raw meat.
2. Wash it with a dish soap, rinse, and let it dry completely.
There’s no special soap or cleaner needed, your regular dish washing soap will certainly do just fine. Letting it dry completely is important to prevent mold from forming. It’s great if your wooden chopping board has a handle so just hang it to dry. If none, then make sure it’s on its side and not laid flat on any surface – again, the idea is to let it dry completely.
3. If there are food stains, simply sprinkle the area with salt or baking soda and then scrub with a sponge or lemon half if you have one.
It’s best to let it sit for a few minutes and then rinse. If the stain is still there, simply repeat the process. Baking soda and lemon is not just for cleaning, these are actually two of the natural deodorizers that you can use in the kitchen.
4. To deodorize it you can also use the baking soda trick or give it a few spritz of distilled white vinegar.
Like previously mentioned, baking soda and lemon are good natural deodorants, add to the list distilled white vinegar, oats, and coffee grounds. See our post here, for list of other natural deodorizers.
5. You can disinfect your wooden chopping board every once-in-a-while or after using it with raw meat either by soaking it for a few minutes in water and chlorine solution (1 tbsp of chlorine to a gallon of water), or wiping it down with 3% hydrogen peroxide.
When using the chlorine solution make sure to rinse it properly so the scent of the chlorine doesn’t linger. If you want, you can give it a few spritz of distilled white vinegar.
6. To keep your wooden chopping board from drying out or cracking, monthly or quarterly – depending on how often you use your cutting board or how dry it is starting to look, you should apply food-grade oil to it.
Okay, perhaps, (like me when I first heard it) the ‘oiling it’ part probably makes you double back on using wooden chopping board. But listen, it’s not as complicated as it may sound. You simply clean the board like you would normally do and let it dry, apply the oil which there are plenty available in grocery stores or online, let it soak for preferably long hours, and them simply wipe the excess oil afterwards. That’s it!
Final thought
I’m obviously a wooden chopping board user, unless perhaps I find a really good plastic chopping board, I would probably stick with mine. I love all its pros and I’m good with all its cons. But of course, I’m open to trying new stuff, so do you have a plastic board to recommend? Or perhaps a glass one? I heard those are really good, too. Let me know in the comments below and I would certainly love to look into it, too.
