Stop your wooden chopping boards from cracking – in 5 easy steps

For one reason and another I’ve ended up with nine wooden chopping boards, which works out at four-and-a-half chopping boards per member of my household. I only went out and bought one of them (the first one) but I’m a kitchenware geek – and the people who buy me presents know the way to my heart.

I doubt I’ll ever need to buy another chopping board as long as I live, because all my boards are in tip-top condition. This is what I have learned:

1. Don’t buy those boards that are made up of compressed and glued sections of smaller pieces of wood. They may look good, but they are more likely to crack. A board cut from a single piece of wood is far sturdier. It’s probably cheaper, too.
2. Go as thick as you can. Yes, the thinner boards are more economical – but they’re flimsier, too. The blocky ones are better value for money, in the long run.
3. Never put your chopping board in the dishwasher, or leave it submerged in soapy water. Not that you’d do this anyway; as a reader of this blog you are evidently blessed with the highest quality brain cells. I’m just sayin’.
4. Okay, this is an important one. Oil your board on a regular basis: every four weeks should do. Boards crack because over time, they dry out. Keep them moisturised, and they’ll go on and on and on. Just spill a little bit on, and rub it over and into the board with kitchen paper or a clean cloth.
5. Don’t do this with cooking oil, though. It may cost next to nothing, but those vegetable oils go rancid over time. IKEA does a chopping board oil for £4.99, but I’d avoid that too. It’s mostly made up of linseed (i.e. vegetable) oil. I love linseed oil because you can use it for loads of things – like keeping leather sofas soft – but sloshing it around food preparation surfaces isn’t one of them.  You want food grade mineral oil, also known as butcher’s block oil. The bottles that I have found all come in around the £4-£5 mark: you can pick them up at any hardware store, or order online.

Easy peasy!