Whether for preparing pasta, a salad or breakfast - a good chopping board is indispensable in every kitchen and is used every day.
If you are equipping your kitchen with chopping boards, you should definitely find out which chopping board is used for what or what the advantages and disadvantages are.
Why you should use different chopping boards
It is often recommended to use different chopping boards for different foods. But why is that actually the case?
If you use your chopping boards quite frequently, cutting grooves and cracks will quickly appear on the surface. If you cut meat or fresh produce, for example, which contains a high number of bacteria, these will accumulate in the cracks.
If the germs come into contact with other food and are ingested while eating, this could lead to food poisoning.
Most chopping boards are easy to clean, but not all bacteria can always be removed and they continue to multiply in the grooves. So if there are still germs on the boards even after washing them in the dishwasher and you cut your fruit on them, this could be quite dangerous.
To avoid this, it is therefore advisable to use different cutting boards for meat& fish and fruit& vegetables. To make it easy to tell these boards apart, many people like to get a set of the same boards in different colors.
The right chopping board - which material should be used for what
In principle, all materials can be used for chopping food and the choice of material plays a subordinate role. What is really important, however, is separating the chopping boards so that hazards can be avoided.
Here you can find basic information about the different materials and how the advantages and disadvantages compare.
Meat and fish
For preparing meat and fish, a wooden chopping board tends to be avoided in favor of plastic boards. This is because a plastic cutting board can be easily cleaned in the dishwasher after use. There, the board is exposed to high temperatures and completely cleaned, which kills germs.
Wood boards, on the other hand, can only be washed by hand so that the wood is not permanently damaged.It is therefore worth using plastic cutting boards for cutting meat products. However, it should be noted that many cutting boards, especially cheap ones, quickly develop cutting grooves and cracks in which germs accumulate that even the dishwasher cannot remove.
This problem also affects wooden cutting boards, but the wood can be easily sanded down and made smooth.
Find out more about proper hygiene or alternative chopping boards made of glass or marble here.
Wood or plastic - which is better?
There is no definitive answer as to which material is better for preparing meat. It all depends on your preferences and requirements for the board.
Fruit and vegetables
The material of the chopping board is not important for preparing fruit and vegetables, as it is sufficient to clean the boards by hand only.
In general, however, it is very practical if the chopping board has a juice groove so that liquids collect there and the work surface does not get too dirty.
Aromatic foods
If you are preparing food that has a strong odor or is very staining, it can be a good idea to use a separate chopping board.
For example, not all of your food will smell of garlic or onions and preparing beet won't stain all of your boards immediately.
For these aromatic foods, it is therefore worth using plastic chopping boards that can be easily cleaned in the dishwasher and the discoloration can possibly be treated with a cleaning treatment.
In general, it is advisable to choose chopping boards based on more than just the cheapest price, as they are of lower quality and therefore need to be replaced more often.
As your chopping board is part of the basic equipment in every kitchen, it is definitely worth investing in high-quality boards that are not only gentle on the knives, but above all put an end to the spread of germs.
