Microplastics

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CharlieD

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Was listening to NPR yesterday. They had this scientist lady speak about microplastics. Scared the crap out of me to be honest. Happened to go to a grocery store right after. Bought two wooden spatulas to replace my plastic ones. Next I am thinking of the cutting board. That one is much harder to replace.
Cutting boards I have now, all from Restaurant Depot, I just throw into a dishwasher. But how do you clean a wooden cutting board especially after things like craw chicken for example?
 
I use a dishcloth with warm/hot water to wipe up any mess, and a towel to dry off the wooden cutting board. now and then I scrape with a dough scraper to ensure there's no little bits hanging on.
. . . . for the last 50 years . . .

I'm sure you've come across the university research . . . even run thru the dishwasher a plastic board harbors more bacteria than a wood one.
 
Charlie, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Wooden boards when well scrubbed are perfectly safe even after having chicken on them.
At one time I thought I would get on the band wagon and use a different board for various things like meats, vegies. Didn't even last the day. I use whatever is handy.
I have quite a few wood boards and all are used indiscriminately. About the only thing I don't do is cut up my vegies on the unwashed board used for chicken chopping. Even then it is only because the board is liable to be slick with the meat. Just take a clean board.

I got 4 small boards from the Dollar $tore. Use them almost as mis en place. Why dirty two things? chop onions leave on a board, maybe the minced garlic is in the corner of the board; chopped carrots/celery on another board; sliced mushrooms on a board; meat be it chicken, patties or chops are on a final board.

All go to the sink and get scrubbed with hot soapy water. Don't particularly dry them unless I need it for something right away. I use them as a sandwich plate with pickles along side. Everything! Have had them for about 7 years I think and are just fine.

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LOL, also used as a hot plate!
 
I don't have any plastic utensils. I do have a couple of silicone stirring spoons. I also have some plastic cutting boards. I don't worry too much about micro plastics from the cutting boards.

From what I understand, the biggest problem with microplastics comes from the millions of plastic bottles that end up in the local rivers and lakes. It gets into the fish and other animals that we end up eating.

As for a wood cutting board, I have a BooS Block board. Wooden boards require more effort, but are not unsafe. I believe you keep kosher (?), so don't know what the laws are for that. I clean mine with dish soap and water. You can add some bleach, but that creates another ecological problem. I also have some BooS Block oil that I use when the beard starts to look dry. It is food safe oil, and won't go rancid.

As mentioned already, you may need to sand your wooden board when it gets a lot of gouges in it. No big deal.

I rarely use my wooden cutting board. It is the largest cutting board I own, so I use it when I'm slicing big cuts of meat, like brisket.

CD
 
. . . need sanding or replacing . . .

yes. but that's a decades issue.
I replaced the pix top board (cheap edge grain maple), , ,
after 30+ years with the bottom end grain maple/walnut (BoardSmith)
the edge grain never needed sanding; it was starting to come apart...
I sawed it up and sent the old maple to a fellow who turns 'pens' - where a chunk of 'stable' wood is a big advantage . . . so, it lives on, just not in the kitchen.

board-combo1.jpg
 
I have one relatively large wooden board, that I only use for one thing every year - cutting all those logs of cookie dough every season (and maybe a few other sweet things in the year), and I don't want any of those onion or garlic aromas in anything I put that cookie dough on! And, while most things will come out of the plastic in the dishwasher, sometimes it can linger, but for most things, that doesn't really matter, since I'm probably cutting up some more onions, garlic, or similar items, anyway. But for sweets, I use that wooden one. If I didn't have that wooden one, I'd get one of those colored ones, to use specifically for that. I never bother with something specifically for meats - I just put the one I use for something like that in the DW immediately, then clean up, and get another one.
 
These are my boards. There is actually a 4th small board like the top ones. Under a sewing project somewhere I think.
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Actually pretty sure I even have another one somewhere but... who knows. Love and use them all.
The big one is a monster and weighs a ton. But is great for kneading bread!
There was a time that the Dollar $tore carried thin, pliable cutting sheets. A package of 3 for $2.50 or so. I used them a lot as they as they were great for folding up and carrying chopped items to the pot. But they wore out fast and hit the bin, no longer available.
 
Going down memory lane....
Anybody remember "bread" boards (as they were originally called) that was a pull out from under the kitchen counter. Think your house had to have been built before those hideous space wasting cupboard modules were introduced to builders. 50's early 60's.
This was the only picture I could find.
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If I ever win the lotto and build my own kitchen, some cabinet maker is in for a treat. I refuse to have module cabinets and will insist on undercounter 'bread boards'. :mrgreen:
 
Going down memory lane....
Anybody remember "bread" boards (as they were originally called) that was a pull out from under the kitchen counter. Think your house had to have been built before those hideous space wasting cupboard modules were introduced to builders. 50's early 60's.
This was the only picture I could find.
View attachment 71906 View attachment 71907
If I ever win the lotto and build my own kitchen, some cabinet maker is in for a treat. I refuse to have module cabinets and will insist on undercounter 'bread boards'. :mrgreen:

They are actually making. comeback. Pricey homes here often have them.

CD
 
i grew up in a house with a bread board that was part of the cabinet like above but we were never allowed to cut directly on it. we cut on paper plates which got thrown away.

we have been through so many cutting board type options that didn't work out as an adult in my own apt. when i suggested using a paper plate like how i grew up, my kids gleefully said, it's not the 1970s anymore.
 
Going down memory lane....
Anybody remember "bread" boards (as they were originally called) that was a pull out from under the kitchen counter. Think your house had to have been built before those hideous space wasting cupboard modules were introduced to builders. 50's early 60's.
This was the only picture I could find.
View attachment 71906 View attachment 71907
If I ever win the lotto and build my own kitchen, some cabinet maker is in for a treat. I refuse to have module cabinets and will insist on undercounter 'bread boards'. :mrgreen:
I actually have one of those boards. My house was build in 1998.
 
I use wooden boards only and for everything.
Never sanded them, never oiled them (on purpose)
I clean with screaming hot water and let the dry thoroughly.
The last is as easy said as done as we often have an RH below 20%

I use a smallish wooden salad/fruit bowl as plate.
 
Wooden boards are naturally antimicrobial. The type of wood as well as the type of microbe will determine how quickly the antibacterial action takes place. There was a study done about this at the University of California Davis, quite a while ago. I had a quick look to find it. Looks like interest in that has finally picked up. IIRC, that study at UC Davis was several decades ago and the only study I used to be able to find.
 
There is no way you can put meat or fish on a wooden board with no bad bacterial resulting from it. You can't cut fish or meat and then vegetables that are being eaten raw. No way.

Anyway, when there are cut marks in the wood, it absolutely needs to be resanded and possibly refinished. We aren't doing all of that and that is why we use glass.
 
I used to cringe when I'd see my Mom cut on a glass cutting board. She had to keep the knives I gave her separate, and promised not to use them on that board!
 
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