A good cutting board is an investment in your kitchen and in your cooking. It can last for years if you take good care of it. You don’t need expensive cleaning products to clean a traditional wood or bamboo cutting board. There are natural items that you can use to care for your cutting board.

Cleaning and disinfecting

Scraping the board clean may take all of the visible food off of it, but since wood is porous, small particles can get caught and breed bacteria. Vinegar is an excellent, all-natural product that can be used to clean and disinfect a cutting board.

After removing surface food, combine 1 part vinegar with 5 parts water. Pour it over the cutting board and allow to sit for ten minutes. Rinse with water then air dry. This isn’t the only thing that inexpensive vinegar is good for. Planet Green has 16 Green Uses for Vinegar around the House that are really useful.

Odor removal

Disinfecting with vinegar will take care of many odors because it will get rid of the bacteria that cause odors, but foods like onion and garlic may leave lingering odors. To remove lingering odors, make a thick paste of baking soda and water. Scrub the board with the paste and then allow to sit for ten to fifteen minutes. Then rinse with very hot water and allow to air dry.

Just like vinegar, inexpensive baking soda is very useful around the house for natural cleaning and odor removing. The Arm & Hammer website is full of ideas for using baking soda around the house.

Stain removal

Salt is a good stain remover for traditional wood or bamboo cutting boards. Wet the stained area and sprinkle with coarse salt like kosher or sea salt – don’t use regular table salt. Allow to sit for a day. Rinse.

Make a paste from more salt and cold water. With a toothbrush, scrub the paste into the stained area. Rinse. Repeat if necessary until stain is out. When you are done, wash with hot soapy water and allow to air dry.

Of course, salt has other uses around the house. Reader’s Digest has 65 Amazing Uses for Salt.

You probably have all of the items you need to care for your cutting board in your kitchen cabinets right now. How convenient is that?

Photo credit: Zenobia