News — Deer & Oak

If you want to protect your knives, the single most effective habit is to use a wooden or bamboo chopping board and oil it every 4 to 6 weeks. A well cared for board can keep a quality kitchen knife sharper for 5 to 10 years, while a neglected board can blunt the same knife in under 6 months. Why chopping board care matters for your knives Every cut is a tiny collision between blade and board. Too hard and your edge chips. Too soft or damaged and the edge rolls. A maintained cutting board gives a consistent surface so...

If you want your kitchen knives to stay sharp for 5 to 10 years of regular home use, a quality bamboo chopping board is usually kinder to the blade than glass, marble or ceramic, and similar to many hardwood boards. In our tests at Deer & Oak, chefs using Moso bamboo boards noticed they needed to sharpen their knives around 20 to 30 percent less often than when cutting on hard stone or glass. How bamboo affects knife longevity Knife longevity is mainly about how quickly the cutting edge wears down or chips. The surface you cut on plays a...

If you want the most eco-friendly everyday cutting board for a modern kitchen, sustainably grown moso bamboo usually beats beech on renewability, using around 3 to 5 times less growing time per board and often lasting 5 to 10 years with simple care. That said, a well sourced beech board can still be a very responsible choice if you prefer traditional European hardwoods and heavier kitchen boards. Beech vs bamboo: which chopping board is more eco-friendly? When people ask us at Deer & Oak "what's the best eco-friendly chopping board for daily cooking?" we usually recommend moso bamboo for most...

If you want the best coloured chopping boards for raw meat, the safest setup is a dedicated red coded meat board paired with at least one separate board for cooked food or vegetables, ideally in a different shade or material. In practical terms, a large 45x35cm board that weighs around 1.8kg gives you enough space for a whole chicken or a rack of lamb while staying stable on the worktop. Why coloured chopping boards matter for raw meat Coloured chopping boards are all about one thing: stopping raw meat juices from touching anything ready to eat. In professional kitchens across...