Cutting boards… we know them, we love them, we use them every single day. As human beings it seems like we have some sort of inborn need for controversy and this even extends into the realm of something as prosaic as cutting boards. By controversy, what exactly am I talking about? Well, I’m talking about the age old one… bamboo oil versus mineral oil! Which is best for your cutting board?
Okay, maybe it’s not as dramatic as all that but the fact remains that people do tend to argue over which is best and I’m not really sure why because any oil will work to cure the cutting surface of your wood cutting board.
Why do we oil at all? Well whenever you cut meat or other things like that on your board, the surface can hold in bacteria as well as other rancid types of contamination and these germs can transfer to your knife or knives and spread around quite easily.
In the old days people used wax, especially beeswax in order to seal up the wood surface of their chopping board. These days we know that oil works better because it soaks into the wood and so that’s what we use, which leads us to the debate of which is the best type of oil to use.
Without proper oiling, your board will crack and chip. That may not seem like a big deal but the problem is that germs and other contamination really love those little cracks and chips and they get in there and fester. Don’t let this happen to your cutting board!
Now if you are using a plastic cutting board then you don’t need to use oil at all you can use hot water and soap or simply stick it in your dishwasher; but if you are using a bamboo cutting board, a butcher block cutting board, or any wooden cutting boards then a good way to seal it is with oil.
With the popularity of cooking shows on TV, there’s lots of different brand names that produce specialty items like special bamboo oil or special wood oil. The problem with these is that they are incredibly expensive and they generally come in very small bottles of around 8 ounces each. For such a small bottle of the branded oils, you can expect to pay anywhere from $10 up to $20 or more.
On the other hand a gallon jug of regular generic mineral oil sells in just about any grocery store or drugstore in the world for around $8-$10 or less. That means for the same price of one of those small 8 ounce bottles of designer oil you can get an entire gallon of mineral.
This is important because you want to use a lot of oil and really spread it around liberally. Especially when your cutting board is still new; you will want to oil it at least once a week for the first month or two and then every month or so after that. Imagine how many eight-ounce bottles you’ll need for that! 10? 20? 50? At 10 bucks a bottle this can quickly add up!
And at the end of the day all the oils will get the job done so why not save your money and go with the cheap mineral oil that will do everything you need to do. And hopefully now we can put this debate to rest once and for all!
