Butcher Blocks

Fallon's Favorites

Fallon's Favorites

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Could anyone point me in the right direction in regards to both seasoning and sanitizing and cleaning butcher blocks and wooden cutting boards? I have some beautiful boards made of teak and Michigan Maple that I'm almost afraid to use for fear that something awful will stain or harm them and my DH is getting tired of seeing them sitting in a cupboard being "hoarded" and never used. :huh::unsure:

Fallon
 
I can speak to the boards. You can wash them with soap and water and dry thoroughly. If the boards are new, before use rub them down with mineral oil from the drugstore.

The usual instructions are once a day for a week, once a week for a month and monthly after that. I make cutting boards for craft shows. I rub my boards after they are finish sanded with a mixture of two TBSP of beeswax to a cup of mineral oil heated in a pan. When it cools I get what I call goop. I finish the boards with that and then oil are they look dull. The big thing is not to let them lay in water. I put feet on mine to raise them off the counter a bit.

I have no experience with butcher blocks, I suppose soap and water, if you can rinse well and definitely oil.

Hope this helps.
 
I use FOOD GRADE (USP Grade) mineral oil to season my wood boards, and clean them with my steel bench scraper followed by soapy water and a stiff bristle nylon brush. DO NOT USE VEGETABLE OIL! It will go rancid and ruin your good cutting boards. The mineral oil will seal the pores to prevent juices from impregnating themselves in the wood. It will also prevent staining and help to keep the wood from drying out and splitting. If your boards do get stained, you can always sand them then reseal with several coasts of food grade mineral oil over several days. USP Grade mineral can be bought for about $7 for a pint at your local drug store. I got mine at CVS a few years ago.
 
Oops! looks like me and Andy posted close together. Glad he concurred with the mineral oil.
 
Thanks so much, Andy and Joe.....your help is appreciated! Especially coming from someone who makes boards (I'd sure love to see some picutres of what you make. Where do you sell them?) I looked online for some ideas about cleaning and the overall recommendation seems to be
3 tbls. of bleach to 1 gallon of water and then dry thoroughly. What do you think about that? What's the danger of drying out your boards with a solution using bleach? Probably very little as long as you oil right afterwards? And is the better board the one with the slight "ditch" around the edges to catch drips and such or a board without the divit dug like that.....or is it no matter which way you choose? I have several boards that were wedding and shower gifts and have a variety of both boards with and without the "ditch" around the edges. :smile:

Fallon
 
I am not a fan of the drip rail, dish. Every board i have used that has one, the juice overflows the rail anyway. LOL

It does bring uo a thought though. Since you have a few boards, I suggeat one for beef / pork, one for poultry and one for veggies. Label them and dedicate them.

I have read a lot pro and con wether bacteria can lodge in the knife cuts and grow. The article that i favor says that the bacteris soon die.

I would have to think aboit the bleach. Personally, i would not do it. I would be afraid that over time it would harm the woood fibers.

I sell at local craft fares, on online to some that know me online. I have a website in the buulding stage. You can like my facebook page (beauty in wood) and i will promise to have pix up by the end of the weekend.
 
Fallon's Favorites said:
Could anyone point me in the right direction in regards to both seasoning and sanitizing and cleaning butcher blocks and wooden cutting boards? I have some beautiful boards made of teak and Michigan Maple that I'm almost afraid to use for fear that something awful will stain or harm them and my DH is getting tired of seeing them sitting in a cupboard being "hoarded" and never used. :huh::unsure:

Fallon
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Are you sure your boards are made of teak? Teak is one of the very few woods that bring silicate along with water through the pores. I don't know about knives, but teak will dull a power saw blade in a few cuts. Wouldn't put my blades on them.
 
Many thanks to everyone for all the wonderful, helpful advice and suggestions. Now I'm equipped to haul all my boards out of the cupboard and begin prepping them for rigorous use in cooking! :bounce:

Fallon
 
bigjim said:
Are you sure your boards are made of teak? Teak is one of the very few woods that bring silicate along with water through the pores. I don't know about knives, but teak will dull a power saw blade in a few cuts. Wouldn't put my blades on them.
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Yes, Jim, two of my boards are made of teak. My father is friends with a boat-builder, locally, who uses teak for decks and wood trim on the small sailboats he builds and gave Dad a load of the stuff several years ago out of which Dad cut some for boards. It's pretty dear, though - costs a fortune to get teak so I don't suppose too many use it for making cutting boards............thanks for the warning, though. I'll be mighty cautious with my knives on the teak boards as regards dulling the knives!

Fallon :whistle:
 
Fallon's Favorites said:
Yes, Jim, two of my boards are made of teak. My father is friends with a boat-builder, locally, who uses teak for decks and wood trim on the small sailboats he builds and gave Dad a load of the stuff several years ago out of which Dad cut some for boards. It's pretty dear, though - costs a fortune to get teak so I don't suppose too many use it for making cutting boards............thanks for the warning, though. I'll be mighty cautious with my knives on the teak boards as regards dulling the knives!

Fallon :whistle:
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I think I would use the teak boards as serving boards. They could be sealed with beeswax-mineral oil, or a commercial board sealer, and would work well for this use without the potential for knife cuts.
 
I use soap and water if really dirty but normally simply wipe down with a solution of white vinegar and water. I do oil my board about once a month with a 50/50 compound of bees wax and food grade mineral spirits that I buy or make. It really depends if I can find bees wax. My board now is well over 6 years old and still in good shape. Oh and my boards are all cherry wood make by the Boardsmith of which I have the one below, a round one and a bread board with another round I purchased for a daughter in law as a gift.
 

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Joe, that's one gorgeous board!

Okay, I've been shopping via phone for both beeswax and mineral oil all afternoon and the results have been a bit confusing and somewhat discouraging........CVS locally doesn't carry the food grade mineral oil or any other kind, for that matter. So then I went broader in my search and found that Walgreens carries what they called the "highest grade of mineral oil on the market......pharmaceutical grade mineral oil. I didn't want to run out and buy it before I checked with you gentlemen to get your opinion of using this instead of the food grade I can't seem to find locally. Would this that Walgreens carries possibly contain any substances okay for use as a laxative but harmful to susceptable foods?

While visiting a fabulous kitchen shop near us I found a mixture that contains both beeswax and mineral oil...premixed together. Would this be an acceptable thing to use rather than the two substances separately and would you use it the same way as straight mineral oil, i.e. multiple layers allowed to soak in and then wipe off and rub down?

Last but not least question.......several years ago my mom got ahold of a large round board at Loew's of all places. It's about two feet across and probably about 2 inches thick and appears to be possibly pine (I honestly have no idea what kind of wood it is) and I've used the one she bought for me to be my pie crust making surface and bread dough kneading surface. I'm wondering if oiling it would be a good thing or not......what do you think? As mentioned, I suspect the wood is possibly pine......after use I scrape it down to get flour and stuck on dough off of it and then just wipe it down with a damp soap and water wash and dry it completely.
But it's so great for what I use it for, if oiling would preserve the wood longer I'd certainly want to do so.

Thanks so much for any advice anyone can give me about these questions. :dizzy:

Fallon
 
look for Howard brand "Butcher Block Conditioner" - I got mine at Home Depot - it's a combo of mineral oil & waxes - food safe etc etc

you can certainly use pine for many tasks as a board.

but I wouldn't recommend cutting on it - it's soft enough it'll get all chopped up in short order. if you've every been in any old timey kitchens you may have seen a pine side board all worn down from dough scrapers . . .
 
Premixed mimeral oil and beeswax is fine


Any mienral oil you get in a drugstore is fine.

If it really is pine, i would not cut on it.

Oil helps any wood.

If you get really stuck, pm your address and I will send you some goop. I make a mixture of 1 cup mineral oil to 2 TBSP beeswax. Warm it till it melts. That is what I call goop. I finish my boards with it.
 
I bought a couple of Andy's (Adillo303) cutting boards for my wife last year. They are beautiful. DW loves them. If anyone is in the market for a new board be sure to check out Andy's wares.
 
Thank you so very much for all the help you've been in my tussle with the boards and the butcher block. Rather than driving all the way down to Portsmouth to the kitchen shop, there, I'm going to pick a couple of bottles of the stuff that Walgreens has and spread out several thicknesses of newspaper on our patio and have at it. I hadn't been able to locate any beeswax, so will probably just get a bottle of the premixed substance and use that as my final coat on my boards. I really feel like a little kid with a new toy, here! And Andy, thank you especially for your kind offer of the goop. Perhaps one day I'll send for some if you let me know how much you charge for it and in what quantity you ship it. You're so kind to offer to send me some.

I'm going to have to take the large round board over to Home Depot or Lowes and find out what the mystery wood actually is. At the moment, I lean toward pine, as it sort of smelled like that when it was first new. And, as mentioned, it's quite soft. But I dearly love it for making bread, biscuits and piecrusts on - it's priceless! Furthermore, once I get all my regular boards treated and prepped I'm certainly going to take your advice and mark them for especial usage...veggies, meats, etc. A great suggestion. Guess I'm your typical brand new bride! :smile::thankyou:


Fallon
 
Andy said:
Perhaps one day I'll send for some if you let me know how much you charge for it and in what quantity you ship it. You're so kind to offer to send me some.
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There would be no charge for Goop. DW makes it in large quantities for me. She is a soaper and has a huge bag of beeswax pellets. You should not pay a lot for mineral oil. Cooking stores sell what they call food grade mineral oil for lots more than drugstore mineral oil. It is usually thinner, I do not know how they thin it. In a drug store, I cannot imagine that one would not have plain ole mineral oil with the laxatives.

Here is one source for beeswax
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. I would not buy more than a pound. I have never bought here.
 
Fallon's Favorites said:
Joe, that's one gorgeous board!

Okay, I've been shopping via phone for both beeswax and mineral oil all afternoon and the results have been a bit confusing and somewhat discouraging........CVS locally doesn't carry the food grade mineral oil or any other kind, for that matter. So then I went broader in my search and found that Walgreens carries what they called the "highest grade of mineral oil on the market......pharmaceutical grade mineral oil. I didn't want to run out and buy it before I checked with you gentlemen to get your opinion of using this instead of the food grade I can't seem to find locally. Would this that Walgreens carries possibly contain any substances okay for use as a laxative but harmful to susceptable foods?

While visiting a fabulous kitchen shop near us I found a mixture that contains both beeswax and mineral oil...premixed together. Would this be an acceptable thing to use rather than the two substances separately and would you use it the same way as straight mineral oil, i.e. multiple layers allowed to soak in and then wipe off and rub down?

Last but not least question.......several years ago my mom got ahold of a large round board at Loew's of all places. It's about two feet across and probably about 2 inches thick and appears to be possibly pine (I honestly have no idea what kind of wood it is) and I've used the one she bought for me to be my pie crust making surface and bread dough kneading surface. I'm wondering if oiling it would be a good thing or not......what do you think? As mentioned, I suspect the wood is possibly pine......after use I scrape it down to get flour and stuck on dough off of it and then just wipe it down with a damp soap and water wash and dry it completely.
But it's so great for what I use it for, if oiling would preserve the wood longer I'd certainly want to do so.

Thanks so much for any advice anyone can give me about these questions. :dizzy:

Fallon
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I had the same problems and now have a large jar (should last a few years) of the board butter here. http://www.japaneseknifesharpeningstore.com/category-s/30.htm

I take about a table spoon of it and heat in the microwave to liquify it a bit then rub in on all sides of the board.

Below is a picture of my round board which is 16" dia by 3" thick cherry wood.
 

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Joe, your round board just makes my mouth water! What a beauty! Thanks so much for sharing the photos of your boards. They give me the inspiration to get to work making mine kinda look like that.

Andy, I think you forgot to include the link to the place that carries the beeswax pellets. Where, exactly, is "here"?

Fallon
 
Fallon's Favorites said:
Joe, your round board just makes my mouth water! What a beauty! Thanks so much for sharing the photos of your boards. They give me the inspiration to get to work making mine kinda look like that.

Andy, I think you forgot to include the link to the place that carries the beeswax pellets. Where, exactly, is "here"?

Fallon
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I had one made for my son and daugther in law in Washington State 24" dia by 3.5" thick. I guess that was right after I had him make mine. They visited and she really loved it but said she would need a bigger one in their new kitchen. I sent it as a Christmas gift with a couple of Shun Classic knives.
 
Thank you, Andy, I immediately whipped out my credit card and put in an order for 1 pound of beeswax!

Joe, all I can say is you have one very lucky daughter-in-law. I dearly love my father-in-law but the gifts he produces include things like a cooler full of sea bass and a completely dressed and wrapped side of elk. Which, of coarse, didn't fit in my freezer and I had to go to the library to find books on how to cook elk and venison. Boy, don't I sound ungrateful, though? I just turned the problem over to Ian, who rented a freezing locker, locally, and now we have all kinds of lovely things in it. Most compliments of my father-in-law. I believe we'd probably starve to death without him. :applause:

Fallon

Fallon
 
Fallon's Favorites said:
Thank you, Andy, I immediately whipped out my credit card and put in an order for 1 pound of beeswax!

Joe, all I can say is you have one very lucky daughter-in-law. I dearly love my father-in-law but the gifts he produces include things like a cooler full of sea bass and a completely dressed and wrapped side of elk. Which, of coarse, didn't fit in my freezer and I had to go to the library to find books on how to cook elk and venison. Boy, don't I sound ungrateful, though? I just turned the problem over to Ian, who rented a freezing locker, locally, and now we have all kinds of lovely things in it. Most compliments of my father-in-law. I believe we'd probably starve to death without him. :applause:

Fallon

Fallon
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Well I have several daughter in laws as well as grand daughter in laws. The one married to my oldest son is the only one that not only cooks but does it well. I wouldn't trust the others to boil water much less cook. :flowers:
 
joec said:
Nope not a chance and keep as set of really cheap knives when they need them. :yum:
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Off topic but for you newer people JoeC, Dawn, and I met a few years ago and I wasn't kidding about the 10,000 knives.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM7lYfMaqyg[/ame]

Joe - I might be able to make a side trip up your way on my way up to Wisconsin the latter half of May.
 
Joe - Glad to see "Leave it to Cleaver" is doing well. Your cherry board looks like it has been taken good care of as well.

Buzz - Thanks! Always good to hear from you.

Cutting boards - I make about 500 to 700 per year and the question of cleaning and sanitation always comes up.

Warm water wash with a good dishwashing detergent, thorough rinse and dry. Oil as needed when the area used most becomes a little lighter in color than the surrounding area. You can warm the mineral oil slightly or apply cold. When it stops absorbing into the wood, buff off with a dry cloth or paper towel. A mixture on muneral oil and bees was will halp with water repellancy but NOTHING, short of a plastic coat, will make the board 100% water repellant. CVS does sell mineral oil, in the laxitive section as does Walgreens and everyother major drung store in the country and most larger grocery stores.

Teak is a horrible wood for cutting boards. Why? A very high silica content and very oily requiring a less than food safe glue to hold it together. The silica will dull a knife edge quicker and the oil will cause a type III glue to lose grip and let the glue joint seperate.

It isn't really necessary to have one board for this use and another for that use. What is needed it simple cleaning and sanitation. You can use a 1:1 mix of vinegar and water to spray on the cutting surface. Studies have found that a diluted mixture works better than straight vinegar. Plus it is food safe. A mixture of Clorox and water works well but needs to be rinsed off. Stains can be lifted using peroxide. Wet a cloth with peroxide and dab the stain. Wash when finished and oil.

If mixing bees wax with mineral oil, be sure to use a double boiler for the heating. Otherwise you could heat the wax to high and cause a fire. I have my own formula and sell 8 ounce tubs of Board Butter on my web site.

Be wary of "mystery" oil. All that is needed is mineral oil and the additives in the "mystery" oils may not be warranted or needed.

Also, some ot the national manufacturers apply a resin hardened to their boards to stop the cutting surface grain from raising after washing. This resin hardened is tough on edges and can sause chipping and premature dulling. Again, all that is needed is a good wood and mineral oil.

What woods to use - The rule of thuimb is any wood from a tree with edible sap or edible nuts and fruits. If the product of the tree can be eaten, then the wood should be safe. An exception is oak. The pores are very large and will allow food bits to lodge in the pores. (My opinion.) Bad woods - Any wood the bugs won't eat and some of the exotic woods. SOme contain oils that are toxic to humans. Spalted wood looks good but the bacteria that cause the spalting is toxic and may still be present depending on how the wood was dried.

Hope this clears up some things.
 

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