Chopping Boards

Chopping Boards

Material decides how the board behaves and how it should be cleaned. Plastic is non-porous, goes in the dishwasher and is the safest choice for raw meat and fish, though it scores over time and scored plastic holds bacteria, so a marked board is a board to replace. Bamboo and wood are gentler on knife edges than plastic and far gentler than glass, and they suit bread, vegetables and serving, but they should be washed by hand and dried upright rather than soaked or put through a dishwasher, which splits them. Live edge boards keep the natural outline of the timber and double as a serving board. Colour coded sets exist to stop cross-contamination, giving a separate board per food type so raw meat never meets salad on the same surface, and they are the single most useful upgrade in a busy kitchen. Beyond material, two design features matter in practice: a folding board pinches into a chute so chopped food goes into the pan without spilling off the edge, and non-slip feet or a grooved block keep the board still while you work. Glass worktop savers are heat resistant surfaces for hot pans rather than boards to cut on, because glass blunts a knife edge quickly. Size should follow the biggest thing you cut, and boards here run from 31.5cm by 19.7cm up to 40cm by 24cm.

Joseph Joseph is the widest range, with Chop2Pot Plus folding boards in regular and large, Folio 4 piece colour coded sets in icon multicolour and graphite, a Folio icon set supplied with a chef knife, and a Folio Steel bamboo 3 piece set. Steelex supplies plain plastic boards at 31.5cm by 19.7cm and 40cm by 24cm, and Tara Lane the Treviso live edge wooden boards in medium and large. Blackmoor makes a chopping board block with finger grooves, and glass worktop savers are stocked in duck, cockerel and hen, butterfly and ladybird prints. This is a sub-collection of Knives and Chopping Boards, and see also Kitchen Utensils.