A few weeks ago, I took my kitchen knives to a professional joint to get them sharpened. It was like a mega knife emporium, though small and locally owned, only open 2 days a week. LOL

The guy was totally awesome at explaining to me how often knives should be sharpened, and that sort of thing. He went on to tell me about cutting boards--wood is the best and cleanest, he said. Just like wooden butcher blocks, wood is still the cutting surface of choice. He explained that for wooden butcher blocks, they clean them off and then rub saw dust over them, let it set overnight, then sweep it off in the morning and that's how they sanitize them. Wood seems to have some natural anti-microbial type qualities.

He also explained that w/plastic cutting boards, the cut marks that get dirty-looking? That's bacteria in there!  He said, sure you can bleach them, but with wood, you don't need to, you just wash them, and along w/their natural properties, they sort of clean themselves.

Anyway, just thought I'd share! Not sure how precise any of this info is, but it sure was interesting to talk to the guy!
 

Oh wow, I've never heard that before! How great would that be if it's true???

I spray/soak our cutting boards with a mixture of distilled water and GSE to sanitize them, but I don't let it soak on the wooden boards because the thought of GSE-flavored sliced bread or fruit just doesn't appeal.   

I'd like some wood ones for veggies/fruit but I have a bunch of nicer plastic ones that are scratched up but they go through the dishwasher so much that they have never gotten gross/dark scratches so I'm not worried about bacteria. I'm not sure I would be able to keep up with sawdusting/sweeping wood boards.

That is interesting. I would love to go to a store like that!

Jessica--glass is good to keep clean, but the worst for your knives! They need something with "give" and glass just doesn't cut it (um, no pun intended, lol!). 

I hate plastic cutting boards.  I love wood and glass.  right now my main one I'm using is glass because my wooden one is missing a foot and it's annoying to use.

Originally posted by jberrec Originally posted by elus0814 I'd like some wood ones for veggies/fruit but I have a bunch of nicer plastic ones that are scratched up but they go through the dishwasher so much that they have never gotten gross/dark scratches so I'm not worried about bacteria.   This is what I thought too. I use our bamboo board only for fruits, veggies, and breads. I always use the plastic boards for meat and them run them through the dishwasher to sanitize.

hmm, i was wondering about the affect of glass on knives. my dad got me some seriously sharp knives and i don't want to ruin them on the glass. i guess i could invest in some bamboo ones. my mil uses plates to cut on and her knives are too dull to cut butter. it makes me insane.