WOOD CUTTING BOARDS
Among the most used tools in traditional Italian kitchens there have always been wooden cutting boards.
In recent decades they have often been replaced by plastic or silicone cutting boards for convenience and for the idea that they are cleaner.
Yet already thirty years ago MIT carried out research showing that wooden cutting boards have two major advantages:
1.scuff marks in plastic boards are filled with microplastics that can leach into your food and lead to potential health problems
2.scuff marks in plastic produce a humidity area where bacteria can reproduce themselves faster than in wooden boards

Disadvantages of wooden cutting boards?
Wooden boards have the huge disadvantage that you cannot wash them in dishwasher as the wood tend to absorb water and that would compromise the piece of wood or finally produce mould on them
So how to clean wood boards?

We are talking about cutting boards traditionally used in Italian kitchens and which are made of local woods such as olive, beech, chestnut and poplar
These are hardwoods, resistant and odorless
The best way is to remove the dirt with a sponge soaked in hot water.
Then we can pass a piece of kitchen paper or cloth lightly soaked in vinegar, which is a natural sterilizer. Wood does not absorb the smell of vinegar so much that it compromises the aromas of our food
How to keep them beautiful?

When we use olive, chestnut ,poplar and beech cutting boards it is very easy. Just rub them with a piece of kitchen paper lightly soaked in olive oil. The oil will restore shine to the cutting boards and also strengthen them.
When choosing a cutting board it is important to think about its durability and certainly the best ones are made from a single whole piece of wood and the wood is of the hard type. The most important point is that the wood is of good quality, that it comes from places of origin where pesticides are not used, but only natural.
At this point it is also possible to choose other woods than those that are traditionally used in Italy, always remembering that they must be hardwoods without a strong scent. The scent of certain woods can interfere with the scent of our food.


Then ,to clean them,it’s important to use a high-quality , food-safe oil that is chemically safe. You’ll achieve the best results by using a special cutting board oil designed for use on wood.
To keep your cutting board looking beautiful and healthy for a long time, you should oil it regularly with a suitable oil.
How many times oil your cutting boards?
Clean and oil your cutting board regularly. Treating your cutting board with oil will ensure a long and healthy lifespan. Apply the oil evenly to your cutting board and polish it to create a beautiful, shiny finish. Repeat this process every 6 months to keep the board in good condition.
Conclusion
Using wood cutting boards is beautiful as they have a great natural look and you can enjoy them for a long time-in Italian families they last for generations-just taking care of cleaning with not too much water and then oiling them.
Always important is the choice of the cutting boards, of a healthy hard wood.