News — bamboo boards

If you care about how long your knives stay sharp, wood wins. In controlled kitchen tests and day to day home use, a quality wooden board can keep a chef’s knife sharper for 2 to 3 times longer than a hard plastic board, simply because wood is kinder to the cutting edge. Wood vs plastic: what actually touches your knife? When you chop, the very thin edge of your knife meets the surface of the board thousands of times. Two things decide how quickly that edge blunts: How hard the board is compared with the steel How much the surface...

If you cook raw chicken at home, the most practical cutting board size is around 45x35cm. This gives you enough space for a whole 1.5 to 2kg chicken, room to trim and portion safely, and a clear area to keep raw juices away from your hands and worktop. Why board size matters for raw chicken Raw chicken is messy, slippery and carries a higher risk of cross contamination than most foods. A board that is too small forces you to work over the sink or let juices run across your worktop. A board that is too big to move easily...

No, you shouldn’t use the same board for raw meat and vegetables unless you clean and disinfect it thoroughly between each use, and even then most food safety bodies in the UK advise keeping at least 2 separate boards. The safest and easiest option is to keep one board for raw meat and fish, and a second board for vegetables, fruit and cooked food. Why sharing a board causes problems Raw meat can carry bacteria such as Campylobacter, Salmonella and E. coli. When raw chicken sits on a board, juices can run into knife marks and the grain of the...

If you want your cutting boards to last 5 to 10 years, the rule is simple: wash plastic boards within 2 minutes of use and oil wooden boards every 3 to 4 weeks. That single habit, plus proper drying, prevents warping, stains and deep smells in both wooden and plastic boards. Wooden vs plastic cutting boards: which is best to maintain? In day to day use, plastic boards are quicker to maintain because you can put most of them in the dishwasher at 60°C. Wooden boards, like our 45x35cm Deer & Oak Large Bamboo Board at 1.8kg, need hand washing...