News — chopping boards

If you want the kindest surface for your knives in the UK, acacia is usually better than hard maple but not always better than moso bamboo. On the Janka hardness scale, acacia sits around 850 to 1,170 lbf, hard maple around 1,450 lbf and moso bamboo boards about 1,380 lbf, so acacia is typically softer on knife edges than both, while quality moso bamboo can still be more eco friendly and stable in a damp British kitchen. Acacia vs bamboo vs maple: what actually matters for your knives? When you are choosing a chopping board for knives, three numbers matter...

If you want the safest everyday cutting surface for home cooking, current food hygiene research points to a high quality bamboo board as safer than plastic over 5 to 10 years of use, because bamboo is naturally less prone to deep scoring and can be sanitised effectively without shedding microplastics. Safety basics: bamboo vs plastic at a glance When you ask which is safer bamboo or plastic cutting board, you are really asking about four things: bacteria, knife marks, chemicals and long term wear. Bacteria: Studies show that plastic boards can trap bacteria in deep cuts within 6 to 12...

If you want to know what the safest chopping board is for a busy kitchen, the answer is simple: choose a board that stays smooth, is hard enough to resist deep cuts, and is easy to clean within 2 minutes of use. The reason is that most germs on chopping boards live in knife grooves that stay damp for more than 20 minutes, which is exactly why chopping boards seem to “breed” germs in the first place. Why do chopping boards breed germs in the kitchen? Chopping boards breed germs because they combine three things bacteria love: moisture, food residue...

If you want to protect your knives for 5 to 10 years of regular home use, high quality end grain or close grained wood usually treats the edge more gently than most synthetic boards, although soft synthetic boards can be kinder than very hard or cheap wood. In simple terms: for long term knife protection, a well made wooden board will normally beat a synthetic one. Wood vs synthetic: what actually touches your knife edge? Every time your knife hits a board, the edge either bites slightly into the surface or skids on top of it. This contact is what...