The most common question we're asked by our customers is how to clean their wooden cutting board or serving platter properly, there's some basic information on our care page but we thought a few photos of the process would help everyone, so without further ado...
Step 1: Pick your board. We picked out the most used, loved but least cared for board in the workshop kitchen, one of our (sadly) discontinued Asterisk Boards. It's about 6 years old and is showing its age in the form of deep discoloured cut marks, food stains, a few burns and some dry spots (lighter areas). We're going to improve all these problems with three simple ingredients: salt, citrus and oil.
Step 2: Squeeze some citrus fruit directly onto the board, We've used a couple of cumquats but lemon will work just as well. The citrus works as a gentle bleach on stains and deodorises the board. Citrus also helps carry our next ingredient deep into the board.
Step 3: Take a small amount of salt and drop it into your pool of citrus. We've used rock salt but any flake or rough salt will do. The salt will be working as a natural abrasive and sanitiser.
Step 4: Scrub the chopping board thoroughly using a clean dishcloth or scourer. Make sure to focus on scrubbing the deep cut marks with a circular motion. The scrubbing will help to remove any cut and burn marks and give the board a deep clean.
Step 5: Leave the citrus and salt to sit for about 10 minutes while the citrus clears up stains and the salt soaks into the chopping board.
Step 6: Scrape off the remaining salt and citrus with a kitchen scraper or any hard flat bottomed tool, we used one of our Stix for Cooks. Depending on how old and clean your board is, your scrapings should be slightly discoloured.
Step 7: Wipe the cutting board dry then apply oil. As mentioned on our care page, we use coconut oil but there are many good alternatives such as walnut oil, orange oil or linseed oil.
Step 8: Rub the oil in with a dry cloth.
Finished! The surface of this board had greatly improved after its spa treatment, however some cut marks are still visible. With regular care using the steps above, most of these marks can be removed from the board over time. This "spa" process will improve the condition of any wooden chopping board, cheese paddle or serving platter.