How to Clean Wooden Cutting Board After Raw Meat
We may earn a small commission if you buy through our links.
Dealing with a wooden cutting board after cutting raw meat is never easy. When you’re cutting meat, you’re going to end up with bits and pieces of flesh, blood, fats, meat residues, etc, here and there. Even though we clean them regularly, micro bits remain on the board, which eventually stagnates and forms molds. Furthermore, if you use that same cutting board for something else, there remains a risk of cross-contamination. For this reason, it’s crucial to clean the cutting board carefully every time after handling raw meat.
The best way to clean a wooden cutting board after raw meat is to wipe it with a damp paper towel. Never soak a wooden cutting board in water or scrub it with a brush, and never run it through a dishwasher.
We’ll go over several methods on how to clean a wooden cutting board after raw meat, including:
- How to clean after each use
- How to remove odors
- How to remove stains
- How to disinfect
Tips: “Never soak or put a wood board in the dishwasher,” says Wasserman (who is a director of merchandising and product development at Food52)
How to Clean a Wood Cutting Board After Each Use:
When you cook, the cutting surface you use can make all the difference. A high-quality wooden cutting board like this one will help you create the best tasting meals, but it’s important to take care of it properly by cleaning it regularly. If you don’t, the board will become more difficult to clean, and it risks becoming a breeding ground for bacteria that could make you sick. If you’re hand-washing, clean immediately after use and follow these tips.
- Apply hot, soapy water to the board
- Scrub the board with a brush
- Rinse thoroughly
- Allow the board to air dry or dry using a towel
Apply Hot, Soapy Water to the Board:
When it comes to wooden cutting boards, it’s important to wash them properly between uses to keep them from getting moldy and eliminate bacteria. The key to keeping kitchen tools clean is to apply hot, soapy water to the board and then scrub it gently with a brush and rinse it clean.
Scrub the board with a brush:
Scrub the cutting board with a brush to clean the board. A dirty cutting board is a dangerous one. Bacteria can easily grow and spread to other foods or surfaces. To avoid this, scrub your cutting board with warm, soapy water along with a brush or sponge. But be careful about hard brushing, it may cause your cutting board to have scratches.
Rinse thoroughly to clean the Cutting Board:
Many of us have been taught to wash our cutting boards with soap and water after every use. We were probably told this was the best way to prevent the boards from getting yucky stuff on them to make us sick. But this isn’t what you need to do. While it’s true that bacteria can survive for a little while on your cutting board, washing it with soap and water doesn’t kill it. The best way to get rid of bacteria is to rinse it with hot, soapy water thoroughly. (A study of cutting boards in kitchens showed that those rinsed were six times cleaner than those washed with soap and water.)
Allow the wooden cutting board to air dry or dry using a towel:
It would help if you always allowed the wooden cutting board to air dry or dry using a towel. If you put it below a fan, the place where the moisture evaporates is where the wood is the weakest. If you let the board dry in a space with high heat, the wood may warp. If you do not allow it to dry or dry it with a towel, you may leave stains on the board. If you put the board on the towel and leave it for a few days, the water will get in between the wood fibers and soak into the wood. Thus, we recommend that you always air dry or use a towel to dry the wooden cutting board.
How to Remove Odor From The Wooden Cutting Board After Raw Meat:
First of all, it is important to note that there is no way to remove all of the odor from your cutting board. Even if you leave the board outside for a few days, bacteria will still cling to the wood’s surface, and there is no way to remove the bacteria. However, you can remove most of the odor. The key is to use the right cleaning product. Follow these tips:
- Wash the cutting board with soap and water
- Baking soda and vinegar
- Baking soda and lemon
- Rubbing Alcohol
- Lemon and salt rub
Wash the cutting board with soap and water:
Many of us are aware that raw meat can be left behind on wooden cutting boards after it has been used to prepare a meal. The use of wood to prepare food is a practice that dates back to the beginning of humanity, and the cutting boards that are used in conjunction with it are also products of the oldest forms of manufacturing.
The soap and water solution is an easy way to remove the odor from cutting boards regularly [Read Here]. Still, the difficult part is removing odors that have been embedded into the wood over long periods of use. So it will be good if you wash your wooden cutting board right after the use.
Baking Soda and Vinegar:
The first step is to wipe the cutting board with a sponge or cloth dipped in a mixture of water and baking soda.
The next step is to pour vinegar over the cutting board. Now scrub the cutting board with the toothbrush. You can let the cutting board dry and repeat the process ( Vinegar & Baking soda ). If the odor remains, you can go for some other method.
Baking soda and lemon:
To remove odor from your wooden cutting board after raw meat, do the following:
Mix 2 tablespoons of baking soda and 1/4 cup lemon juice in a small bowl.
Sprinkle the baking soda-lemon juice mixture onto the cutting board, and let it sit for some time.
Use a sponge to scrub the mixture into the cutting board.
Rinse the board with soapy water, then dry it with a clean towel.
Rubbing Alcohol:
Alcohol has heard that rubbing alcohol also used to remove odor from a cutting board. There is some truth to this. Alcohol can kill some disease-causing microbes that are present on cutting boards. It can also kill any odor-causing bacteria that might be on the cutting board. However, if the cutting board is made of wood, it is very difficult to rub Alcohol on the stains left behind in the wood. This is because the ink from the printing process used to create the cutting board stains the wood.
Lemon and Salt Rub:
Rubbing with lemon and salt works like magic. You can cut a lemon into half and sprinkle some salt on the cutting board. We prefer coarse sea salt over the surface of the board. After sprinkling the salt on the board, you can just take the half lemon and rub with the fleshy part of the fruit. You can continue the process for 5-10 minutes. Then you can rinse and dry it with towel. It helps to keep your cutting board to get any smell and also a easy process of cleaning your board.
How to Remove Stains From Wooden Cutting Board:
The small wooden cutting board is one of the most commonly used kitchen tools, but like any other tool, it will become dirty with time. The most common thing that dirty kitchen cutting boards are is a stain from raw meat or a stain from the juice. Such stains are not only aesthetically unpleasant but also represent a danger of infection and food poisoning. So, how to remove stains from a wooden cutting board after raw meat?
- Use a paste of baking soda and water and let it sit for 30 minutes
- Use a solution of lemon juice and water and wipe it off with a cloth
- Use a solution of vinegar and water and wipe it off with a cloth
- Use a mixture of salt and lemon and rub it into the wood of the cutting board.
How to Disinfect Wooden Cutting Board After Raw Meat:
It is very important to disinfect the wooden cutting board after raw meat to prevent food poisoning in your family. After all, cutting boards should be sanitized regularly and thoroughly. There are several ways to disinfect wooden cutting boards after raw meat. So, how do you clean your cutting board?
- Disinfect with soap
- Disinfect with bleach
- Disinfect with vinegar
- Disinfect with hydrogen peroxide
Disinfect with soap:
Our grandmothers are not the only ones who insisted on disinfecting wooden cutting boards after raw meat with soap. And you can’t just wipe it off or put it in the dishwasher. The National Sanitation Foundation suggests scrubbing it with hot, soapy water and then drying it with a clean cloth or paper towel. If you’re still worried and can’t bear to toss the cutting board, sanitize it with a solution of 1 tablespoon of bleach in 1 gallon of water.
Disinfect with bleach:
The board should soak in the sink for about 15 minutes, and then you can use a brush to scrape away any meat bits. Then, the board should be cleaned with hot, soapy water and rinsed off. After this, you should disinfect the wooden cutting board after raw meat with bleach. Pour a little bleach on the board and let it sit for a few minutes. Lastly, rinse the board off with hot water. This should remove all germs left behind by the meat.
Disinfect with vinegar:
The best way to do this is to eliminate bacteria and ensure your food is safe to eat with an all-natural disinfectant. One great option is to use white vinegar, as it not only kills bacteria but its smell is neutralized after a few minutes. Another option is to mix two tablespoons of vinegar, one teaspoon of salt, and one teaspoon of lemon juice into a spray bottle filled. Then you can spray it over the board and wash it after cleaning. Now you can air dry or drip dry or use any towel to dry your board.
Disinfect with Hydrogen Peroxide
If you want to avoid bleach to your cutting board, you can use hydrogen peroxide along with vinegar. Hydrogen peroxide is an effective germ-killer. It helps to kill the germs and bacteria so well. But don’t mix the vinegar and hydrogen peroxide together. It can be irritant for skin, eyes, and respiratory system.
You can take a spray bottle filled with vinegar and a spray bottle with 3 percent hydrogen peroxide in it. Then you have to spray some vinegar and wait for 5 minutes. After that, you can gently brush it and rinse it off. Follow the step with hydrogen peroxide. Spray it, wait for 5 minutes and rinse it. Now dry it and store.
Things You Should Never Do:
- Do not put your wood cutting board into the dishwasher. It will crack and deform with time. Hot water flashes may also eliminate any natural protective coating or oil that your wood cutting board may have. Over time, bacteria find a home in these cracks and may become unsafe to use.
- Do not immerse your cutting board in water for over a few minutes.
- Let blood pool on the wood for long periods so that it soaks in.
Food Safety Tips
Examine Your Board: It is important to examine your board after using. If you see any crack in your cutting board, it will be good to avoid the board. Because this can hold bacteria and can harm and infect your food.
Wash Immediately after using: It is best to rinse your cutting board right after using it. Bacteria from the meat juices that absorb into the wooden cutting board, can sometime create odors overtime. So it is important to keep your board Safe and clean.
Conclusion:
Now you have in-depth knowledge about how to clean a wooden cutting board after raw meat. But when it comes to cleaning after raw meat, you’ve got to be careful. Here we have discussed about every aspects that we face. Hope it will help you.
