Cleaning chopping boards - AIBU?

[flibbertigibbert]

My DP eats a lot of fresh bread which he slices himself on a wooden chopping board. He never washes the chopping board up after using it - it has a hook on it so he just hangs it up on the rack above the work surface. He doesn't bother washing up the bread knife either.

Even though the board and knife are only used for bread I still don't really like the idea of it not being washed up properly. There are small indents where the knife has gone through the wood where bacteria could lurk. Am I being unreasonable to think that they should be washed up?

I would wipe down a chopping board and wash the knife.

Bread's quite fatty - the knife must be pretty smeary.

My cousin makes wooden things for a living, including chopping boards, and he reckons that the wood has natural anti-bacterial properties and that for this reason wooden boards are more hygenic than plastic ones. But then he would say that, I suppose...

I am anal about having different boards for meat etc and washing them properly, but I'm not sure it's such a big deal about bread board anf knife- in theory you're right, but I doubt you could get a food poisonng from it.

I probably wash our bread board and knife once every couple of months, however, the bread board is a slide out one and I store the knife in the bread bin, so I know no flies have landed on it.

My Gran never ever washed her bread board or bread knife. It was one of her rules.

It is absolutely true about wooden chopping boards being more hygienic than plastic ones.

He hangs the board up after use and you're complaining?! I wish my dh would do that!

I wouldn't care much about the chopping board or the knife.

I would care about the breadcrumbs left on the side, or being swiped onto the floor in an expansive gesture (if your DH wipes up his breadcrumbs after himself and does NOT commit the crimes as detailed above, he is superhuman)

tbh i don't wash the chopping board if it's just crumbs, just sweep the crumbs off

think you're being a teensy bit anal

no matter what ive chopped on the boards (i have diff ones for sandwhiches/veggies/meat etc it goes straight in dishwasher

I do this - less washing up is always good news!

On a bit of a thread hijack (sorry flibberti) how do you treat new chopping boards?

I got some from ikea, they were very dry and said to treat with oil - can't remember what type but I didn't have it so used groundnut oil. Now they still seem a bit dry, dusty and crap really. Any ideas welcome :)

Daisysteiner and Getorf - the chopping board is usually only hung up after being pestered by me. And there are usually crumbs on the side.

Maybe I'm overreacting then. One thing I didn't mention in the OP is that the board is hung up near the kettle - nowhere else for it to go in a small kitchen - and so the steam heats it up. That was one reason for worrying about the bacteria multiplying.

I feel a bit OTT for worrying about this .

I think it's linseed oil.

But I might be making that up.

we use a big wooden board to slice our bread. we only wipe the crumbs off, job done. the bread knife gets washed when necessary and the board about once a year after which it is oiled in olive oil to keep the wood soft.

I just wipe the crumbs off unless there is something sticky on it in which case I scrub it.
I use any old oil to oil it though I think Linseed is the one they sell in Ikea.
I wash the bread knife though but not in the Dishwasher.

I remember a test they did on chopping boards when microban ones came out and wood tested the best for anti-bacterial properties, also my Butcher has won awards for hygiene and uses wood for raw meat so its good enough for me.

we have wooden chopping / bread boards (and diff ones for veg only and 1 which is raw meat only)

I always wash both board and bread even if it has only been used once... it never occured to me not too...

although if used for toast in the morning, and not washed up by lunch time, ill use the same board and bread knife again, and then be sure to wash it up with the lunch time stuff

I dont put wooden boards in the dishwasher though as have found out (through experiance) that in time they split