Whether or not you’re arranging to make your personal, or are searching close to and want to know the ideal option, one particular of the most essential aspects to take into account when buying a chopping board is the wood that it is built from.
The cutting board really fulfils a number of tasks, which includes cutting foods but also being utilized for other meals preparation as effectively as for standing sizzling pots and pans on, and even for serving. As this sort of, the correct wooden requirements to be risk-free, easy to thoroughly clean, robust, tough, and it must appear very good.
The 9 Best Cutting Board Woods
Fortunately, there are different woods that are regarded as suitable for cutting boards, like:
1. Maple
Do not use red maple, simply because it is toxic, but sugar maple and challenging maple are regarded as amid the very ideal of cutting board supplies. It is a hardwood with a Janka hardness score of 1,450 lbf. It wears properly, appears eye-catching, and it has a limited pore, which indicates that it does well avoiding germs from getting into the grain of the wooden and the surface of the board.
However, maple is flippantly coloured and can stain and it wants treating month-to-month.
- Hardness rating of 1,450 lbf
- Tight pores prevent bacteria
- Long-lasting and durable
- Needs monthly treatment
- Can stain
2. Ash
Even though not as tough as Maple, Ash nonetheless has a Janka score of one,300 lbf, which signifies that it will withstand regular cutting without prematurely blunting your knife. It is non-toxic but it has open up pores, which indicates that it will consider far more cleansing and suitable drying to make certain that it stays contaminant cost-free. It also has a light-weight color which is effortlessly stained, so you must remove foodstuff like beetroot as shortly as achievable.
- Light color is attractive
- Hardness rating of 1,300 lbf
- Won’t dull blades
- Light color is easily stained
- Requires extensive cleaning and drying
3. Beech
Beech also has a hardness score of 1,300 lbf and although it commences out fairly a light cream color, it will switch to a darker red over the many years. It has limited pores, which assist avoid micro organism, even though the aged dim coloration also prevents stains and blemishes from showing up on a chopping board.
You will require to take care of the board each and every month. This will help prevent the wood from seeking aged and protects it, and with Beech wooden, remedy also helps prevent the wood from contracting over time.
- Looks better as it ages
- Tight pores help prevent bacteria
- Drains well
- Needs regular treatment
- Can contract over time
4. Acacia
Acacia is a really rapidly-expanding hardwood. The hardness of the wood relies upon on its age and can range from tree to tree but usually ranges among one,200 and 1,700 lbf. The perfect hardness for a reducing board lay someplace in the middle of this variety. Way too soft and the board will grow to be damaged more than time: also tough and it can truly trigger the dulling of knife blades. Acacia also arrives in a range of shades and can be treated to accomplish other looks.
- Tightly pored
- Comes in different shades
- Easier to care for than some hardwoods
- Unpredictable hardness means yours could be too soft
- Acacia bords tend to be heavy
5. Walnut
Walnut is a shut pored wooden. It looks specially attractive and abundant thanks to its darkish color, which also assists avoid foods stains from showing up even after regular use. Walnut does require standard treating, largely since it is one of the softest hardwoods. With just one,one hundred lbf Janka hardness ranking, it can experience scratches and other harm, but it will go simple on your knives so kitchen area blades will final longer.
- Very sympathetic to knife blades
- Dark color looks good
- Hides stains
- Needs regular treatment
- Janka hardness rating of 1,100 lbf means cuts and knocks may show
6. Teak
Teak is a fairly distinctive hardwood due to the fact, even soon after it has been cut and processed, it retains its normal oils that avert it from misshaping and help it endure knife damage and damage from drinking water. Even so, it is yet another delicate wood, with a rating of approximately one,one hundred fifty lbf. Its reputation in outdoor home furniture and other household things also indicates that the stock of wild teak trees has diminished substantially more than recent many years.
- Natural oils mean reduced maintenance for you
- Withstands wet environments well
- Protects your knife blades
- Hardness rating of 1,150 lbf
- Teak is not a sustainable wood
7. Cherry
Cherry is a redwood and a hardwood, but it has a hardness score of less than one,000 lbf. This is wonderful if you have sensitive knives, but it also signifies that the board can very easily turn into broken through tough use. If buying for seems to be by itself, or you are generating your own board and combining woods, cherry is a excellent option, but if you are a serious foods prepper with hefty knives, it is not the ideal option.
- Very appealing looks
- Doesn’t require much conditioning
- Knife blades should be safe from damage
- The board is very soft with a hardness rating less than 1,000 lbf
- It will need replacing sooner than harder woods
8. Bamboo
Bamboo is not, strictly speaking, a wood. Even so, it grows extremely speedily so is a highly sustainable and renewable materials. It has a hardness ranking of 1,400 lbf, which signifies that it is hard ample that it is not effortlessly destroyed but shouldn’t cause as well much harm to knife blades either, although its substantial silica ratio indicates that sensitive knives may suffer.
- Lightweight and easy to move around
- Bamboo is a highly sustainable wood
- Scratch and waster resistant with a 1,400 lbf hardness rating
- Can blunt some knives
- Lightweight so might be prone to moving around under vigorous use
9. Pecan
Pecan is the most difficult of all the woods on our checklist, with a Janka rating of one,800 lbf. This does indicate that it is resistant to scratches and other injury, but it also implies that knives will boring rapidly so you will want to sharpen routinely. Its pores are also not as limited as some other woods, which indicates that it demands far more comprehensive cleansing to avoid micro organism expansion.
- Very hardy and difficult to damage
- Heavy board that gives a feeling of strength
- 1,800 lbf means that it will dull knives
- Loose pores require stringent cleaning
Many professional cooks use a picket chopping board since they have a particular sum of heft and toughness behind them. They offer you a secure slicing surface and, depending on the variety of wood used in the construction, they can be resistant to cuts and other hurt. Nevertheless, you do need to have to often take care of or condition some woods, and specifically porous woods can be prone to germs development. Think about the subsequent factors when buying this sort of kitchen merchandise:
- Hardness – Generally, the hardness of wood is measured using the Janka hardness scale and tends to vary between 1,000 lbf and 2,000 lbf. The ideal figure is somewhere around 1,500, because anything higher can cause knife blades to dull quickly, while wood below this number will become too easily damaged by regular cutting.
- Porosity – Porosity relates to the holes that occur between the grain of the wood. The tighter the pores the better, because if the surface is too porous it allows moisture and bacteria to get in between. Bacteria can then thrive. It is possible to avid bacteria even in the most porous of wood, but it requires a lot of diligent cleaning and careful drying.
- Toxins – If you stray from the list above, be sure to avoid any wood that is considered toxic. Red maple, for example, is toxic and should not be used as a cutting board material.
- Treatment – Most wooden boards require some conditioning or treatment. This means applying an oil and letting it soak in. This helps prevent moisture from being absorbed and it can protect against splitting.
Some people avoid wood chopping boards since of the worry in excess of microorganisms development, but if you decide on an suitable wooden, problem it appropriately, and make certain that it is cleaned and dried appropriately, you can take pleasure in the advantages of an desirable, resilient, and hardworking wooden board. Over are some of the best hardwood components available, to help you locate the very best wooden for your kitchen area.
Featured Image Credit score: StockSnap, Pixabay
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