Plastic Chopping Board Advice, Facts and Reviews
The Best Cutting Boards are Plastic Chopping Boards
Plastic chopping boards are the most practical of all available chopping boards because they are viewed as the most hygienic and easiest to use.
Plastic chopping boards are used in all commercial kitchens, plastic is preferred here for many reasons, here are a couple of them:
1.) Plastic boards can be placed in hot dishwashers or even autoclaves and withstand very high temperatures that kills most nasty bacteria. A wooden or bamboo chopping board would be warped very quickly under these conditions.
2.) Glass chopping board are also capable of withstanding high temperatures but are shunned in professional kitchens because they are heavy and as glass can shatter, increasing the need for little blue plasters but more seriously, small particles can end up in food.
3.) Plastic chopping boards do not harbor germs after sanitizing but MUST be left to air before being put away as grooves are perfect mildew to hide in.
4.) Plastic chopping boards are generally much cheaper than a decent wooden board, most people are happy to throw them away when they become damaged.
5.) Plastic chopping boards often come in sets of different bright color so that different foods can be kept separate for hygiene and allergy reasons. For example, in professional kitchens there are six different colors each for raw meat, cooked meat, fish, diary and bread, vegetables, fruit and fish.
Extra features
- You may have heard that certain plastic chopping boards come with a special pre-treated anti-bacterial surface. Scientists have proved that this has no tangible benefits, therefore do not allow yourself to be conned into paying more for a plastic chopping board that has this treatment on its surface.
- Plastic chopping boards often come with a ‘moat’ around the edge. This is really handy if you are cutting raw (and bloody) meat or exceptionally juicy fruit.
- If you need to deep-clean your plastic chopping board, you can use a chlorine solution made of one tablespoon of chlorine bleach per gallon of water – just don’t use a scented bleach because you firstly don’t want the perfume taste stuck in your board and Glass chopping boards are notoriously slippery
- Keep your knives sharp! Cuts with blunt knifes don’t heal so quick and hurt more.
- You can clean out any pesky smells that have lingered with lemon and salt.
Information you need to know before purchasing a plastic chopping board
- You do not need to treat a plastic chopping board with special oils every so often like you do with a wooden chopping board. This makes it easy to care for.
- However, plastic boards may be easy to care for but they are easily marked. For those concerned with the appearance of their cutting boards, a plastic board is not for you if you will be upset about the scores made by your knife!
- Many people buy a posh and expensive marble or wooden chopping board for show and will actually use a cheap plastic chopping board they store in a cupboard. As long as it is air-dried before it is put away, this is a very practical measure for the image-conscious kitchen-dweller.
- Plastic chopping boards are often criticized for being slippery, this is easily solved if you stick a strip of silicone to the base so you won’t chase it across a wet work top.
- Some cooks distinguish between chopping boards and cutting boards. A cutting board is used for vegetables etc whereas a chopping board is for more heavy-duty food items like big joints of meat.
- All chopping boards dull knife blades, each in different ways. Plastic boards create heat and the friction blunts knifes. This is less substantial damage than harder boards like wood or bamboo. The science of sharpening knifes is more complicated than you might think so it is best to know
- Many Chinese recipes instruct cooks to cut vegetables ‘on the diagonal’ so that there is more surface area on the vegetable to absorb flavor. The most effective boards for this are plastic boards as certain boards offer a slight ‘bobble’ effect so food cannot slip.
Progressive International Plastic Cutting Boards
Industry standard Progressive International Chopping Boards quickly became very popular in today's home kitchen. The main features of their boards is the near indestructible plastic material which can withstand dishwashing and heavy duty knifes.
Below are some of the most popular designs currently available at Amazon:
