Some time back we had written about knives. What we are about to cover today is an essential tool which should grace every kitchen - Cutting Board.

Image Courtesy : about.com

At my home, people use all kinds of surface to cut vegetables or peel onions and garlic. The surface ranges from dining table to kitchen counter top and even vessels!

What one does not realize is that sharp knives will damage most of these surfaces - permanently.

A wooden cutting board presents the following advantages for use at one’s home:

• Wood being a natural substance does not do harm to the food being cut or chopped on it.
• Wooded boards are long lasting and have a longer life. They are easy to clean but occasionally when we wet them too much, they take a while to dry completely.
• Using a board can ensure that you could carry out your tasks either inside the kitchen or on the table. The board protects your precious furniture and counter tops from being scratched.
• One unknown plus is that the life of the knife is enhanced as it does not have to touch surfaces like laminate boards or granite or stone which is found on counter tops.

Generally speaking a wooden cutting board is better to use over a plastic counterpart. In our experience, plastics ones especially low quality and low grade ones tend to break into small particles which could easily get mixed with the food. So please make sure that you change your board if it shows signs of wear and tear.

Please clean your cutting board regularly to prevent growth of organisms on it.

Purchasing a cutting board with a provision for hanging would be a sensible thing to do. Also make sure that the size of the board is sufficient so that you can organize your cut vegetables on it.

There are even glass cutting boards according to Wikipedia, so you may want to check out the complete article here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_board

Now back to kitchen