Author：Jake | TIME：July 04,2019 1942
What is the most important tool in the kitchen? I think most of you would say the knife. And yes, my answer is the same as yours. Therefore, we can see that most of the chefs have their own knife sets. As a matter of fact, having a nice set of knives indeed makes a difference for both experienced chefs and newbie cooks. Yet what I am going to talk about today is the knife's companion - the cutting board - which is often overlooked by those who are responsible for the family meals.
For most people, maybe including you, cutting boards are not much different as long as the knives are sharp enough. They just need something, or somewhere to place food and vegetables that are to be cut. So whether it is a wood or plastic cutting board doesn't really matter. Yet, if you hold the same or similar opinion, I suggest that you should read on.
While you focus on selecting the nice knives, it's also important to pay attention to the cutting board. It makes a difference if you have the right cutting board or mat. Actually, the material, size, and thickness of the board can help accelerate or slow down your kitchen tasks. And good and soft boards can protect the edge of your knives from damage. Besides, your food, vegetables and fruits are directly exposed to the cutting board, so it's vital to choose the food grade chopping board or mat for your and your family's health.
Cutting boards can be made of different materials. Plastic, wood, and bamboo are the 3 most common types. It's hard to tell which type is the best because different people have different needs. As for me, I prefer the flexible plastic cutting board as I have light tasks in the kitchen most of time. So a plastic cutting mat is enough for me. But you don't have to follow other's opinion, just choose the one that caters to your exact needs. And to help you better understand each cutting board material, we will elaborate more details for you in the next part.
The size of your kitchen cutting mats should depend on the size of your countertop or where you do the cutting. But if you want a sink cutting board, just make it fit the size of your sink. And, for most cases, a large cutting board would do a better job for you because you don't need to worry that the food would go beyond the board. If you have a big family, maybe you would need an extra large cutting board.
Considering that you may need to chop hard food like ribs, we think the thickness of kitchen chopping boards should be a factor to consider. Generally speaking, thick chopping board can withstand intense cutting and protect the countertop because it absorbs and weakens the impact. Therefore, try not to use boards that are too slim.
Keeping the kitchen cutting board mat clean all the time is critical for health. If it’s not throughly cleaned, bacteria would breed and increase quickly. So you should clean the cutting board every time after you use it. If the board is easy to clean, it will save you a lot of trouble. For those who hate cleaning the board, plastic cutting board mats should be a great choice becuase they are dishwasher safe.
Just as what we've mentioned above, chopping boards can be made of different materials: wood, bamboo, plastic, glass, etc. There are also custom cutting boards - if you are interested in how to make a cutting board, you can search and get some tips from Google. And since glass cutting boards are very tough and could damage the knife ede, we don't suggest you use them. So we will mainly focus on 3 types of cutting boards: plastic, wood, and bamboo.
Plastic cutting boards are flexible, thin, yet durable. They can absorb countless cuts and blows caused by your kitchen tools. These flexible chopping mats are able to cater to your various needs in the kitchen.
These cutting mats are versatile not only for cutting, they can also be used to funnel your chopped food into the pots.
A flexible cutting board is thin and lightweight, which makes it easy to store. This can also free up more space for other kitchen utensils.
Plastic cutting boards are easy to clean and definitely dishwasher safe.
Plastic chopping mats are not as easy to staining as wood boards.
They are the least expensive cutting boards to invest.
Plastic cutting mats are a little rough on your knives.
Compared with other types, plastic is less durable for long time usage, meaning you need to replace them more often.
They might get nicked and scuffed, and thus harboring bacteria.
Wooden chopping boards are very popular and recommended by many due to the obvious advantages. They can last longer than other materials given the same condition. Hard woods like maple, acacia, and teak are the highest-quality wood chopping board material.
These end grain cutting boards are very edge friendly and will not dull the sharp edge of your knives too much.
Wood is quite water absorbent, meaning it dries quicker and leaves little time for bacteria to survive.
Wooden cutting boards have a good deal of self-healing properties so the cut mark on the wood reseals very quickly. Fewer scars on the board surface reduces the chance of harboring bacteria and makes it easier to clean the board.
Wood has a porous structure with special bacteria-fighting properties that will actually kill surface bacteria by removing the moisture from the surface.
Wood cutting boards require more maintenance.
They cannot be put in the dishwasher or soaked in water.
They are heavier and usually take more space.
More expensive than other cutting board types.
Bamboo cutting boards have gained an increasing popularity in recent years due to some advantages over traditional wood boards and the increase of environmental awareness. Bamboo is a sustainable and renewable resource - so these cutting boards are the most ecofriendly.
Bamboo resists retaining water so it won't warp or crack as easily as normal wood.
Bamboo chopping boards have hard density of the wood but require less maintainance.
Bamboo is often dense enough to resist knife scarring.
These bamboo boards look fashionable.
Environmentally-friendly because of they are made of renewable material.
Bamboo is hard, so it's not edge friendly to your knives.
They are not dishwasher safe.
No matter which type of cutting board you choose, it is important to clean and sanitize it properly. This is not only for the long life span, but also for health and safety. Depending on the material, the process and method of cleaning a cutting board may be different. You can read and follow the instruction manual that comes with the product, if there is. If you don't find any info about cutting board cleaning or maintaining in the package, you can follow below tips.
Step 1 Scrub them in the washing bowl or container with hot water and dishwashing liquid.
Step 2 Rinse the cutting board with clean water.
Step 3 Dry your chopping board with paper towels or dry clean dishcloths.
Step 4 Put it onto the cutting board rack or hang it somewhere for drying.
And for the sake of health and safety, it is also necessary to sanitise your kitchen cutting board from time to time. Here's how to sanitise a cutting board:
Step 1 Scrub the cutting board in warm soapy water to get rid of all food particles, oils, grease, and residue.
Step 2 Soak the board in the mixture of water and a solution of 1 tablespoon of chlorine bleach.
Step 3 Leave it in for half an hour before rinsing throughly.
Step 4 Dry the borad on a rack.
And to practice a good level of hygiene and health in the kitchen, replacing your kitchen chopping board every other a time is necessary. In the meanwhile, you can use separate cutting boards for raw meat and poultry, and for your vegetables, fruit and prepared food. This can effectively reduce the danger of cross-contamination.
But taking budget into consideration, the expensive wood and bamboo cutting boards might not be the best choice. This is one of the most important reasons why many people tend to plastic cutting mats. And below we would like to recommend you a cost-effective plastic cutting mat.
Editor's Rating: ★★★★★
Just like what we talked about before, it is wise to purchase multiple flexible chopping mats for different types of food. Now you can get a set of 6 packs (each in different color: purple, green, red, blue, yellow, and orange) at an affordable price. This set will cater to your needs whether you are looking for a meat cutting board, bread cutting board, cheese cutting board, or vegetable cutting board.
We’ve tested the product in our kitchen so we can give you the real user experience. Though they have some disadvantages found in other plastic cutting boards, they have made some improvement. And we want to give a high rating because of the versatile features and advantages of this chopping board set.
The seller should know your concern about short life span and health problem; therefore they’ve made a single purchase in a set of 6 packs. You can replace one with another when it’s time.
Besides, you can use each pack for one specific type of food, or just use them as the manufacturer suggests: green for vegetable, red for beef, blue for fish, yellow for fruit, orange for chicken, and purple for bread. This can avoid food cross-contamination.
Each pack is a non slip cutting board with highly frictional back, which means it won’t move easily while cutting. It must be a bad experience if the board’s back is not rough enough to make a firm grip with the countertop; and it could be quite dangerous because you might cut your fingers by accident.
The flexible kitchen cutting board is made in 1.2mm, which makes it durable enough for countless cuts. We’ve made a lot of brutal cuts on the testers with sharp knives, yet we didn’t see too much marks as we did on other cutting mats of the same material.
The flexible design allows you to roll up the mat from two sides and funnel the food into the pot or pan. And the large size of 12’’ x 15’’ is enough to ensure that all the chopped food slip in the targeted container without spilling out.
These plastic cutting mats are easy to clean and can be directly put into the dishwasher. You just need to rinse them with running water; and you may just need to wash them with dishwashing liquid if you use them to cut food with oil of fat, for example, meat and beef. Don’t forget to dry them after washing. You can hang them in the hook in wall or place them on the cutting board rack.
Yes, you cannot only use the plastic cutting board in your kitchen, but also put it in the basket or lunch bag for picnic at weekend. You should have quite a lot of fruits and bread to chop in the picnic. If you hate carrying a heavy cutting board made of wood or bamboo, then these flexible cutting mats should be the perfect solution.
