Olive wood board: the missing piece to your modern kitchen
What is an olive wood board?
It’s a board of wood, specifically olive wood, used in the kitchen to cut all kinds of food on it. This traditional tool has become a very fashion kitchen accessory and many brands offer boards with beautiful designs and colors (depending on the age of the tree).
The board allows you to protect the work surface of the kitchen of knife cuts. You can also use it to put a hot plate on it.
Certain wood boards are made just to cut the ingredients and put it directly to another recipient, but some others are also made to only present the food. It’s particularly appreciated to make a nice presentation of appetizers and vegetables crudités. In France they are used a lot to prepare a beautiful cheese board.
This typical Mediterranean product has been used for years in many countries:
- Tunisia
- Morocco
- Alegria
- France
- Italy
- Spain
- Portugal
Today some countries like Canada offer this board produced with their local wood.
How is it made?
This is an authentic handmade product. The craftsman chooses a piece of good quality olive wood and “slice” the shape of the board. After that, the board is polished and “waxed” with olive oil.
The wood is very thick (20% thicker than the beech three), pretty heavy and more resistant to bacteria. All these parameters ensure a long-life product if it’s well maintained.
Every single olive wood board is unique because of the composition of the wood: every tree has its own veins and can’t be manufactured.
It also has a health benefit compared to a plastic board: scientific studies have demonstrated that the amount of bacteria’s on the surface (for example from a piece of meat) was significantly reduced with a wood board. Why? The wood absorbs a lot of the food bacteria in a few minutes. It’s a factor that has been confirmed by another scientific study demonstrating that people using wood boards had 50% less chances to contract the salmonellosis than people using a plastic board.
A plastic board is also more difficult to hand wash after a few uses and to maintain in a good condition.
On an olive wood board, you can cut and prepare all the types of foods you want: vegetables, fruits, meats, cheese, herbs… The different sizes allow you to make a preparation for two people of a whole table of guests.
The quality and color of the olive wood gives also a very elegant touch of decoration to the table and can be associated to others kitchen tools.
Certain olive wood boards are so nicely decorated and designed that they aren’t made to prepare food on it (or you would ruin them) but just to serve it!
How to take care of it?
When you just bought your olive wood board you need to wash it first before using it.
- Put in under moderate hot water, then pour a bit of olive oil. Wait a couple of minutes and dry it with a soft towel.
- You can also choose to wash it with a soft sponge and a bit of soap.
Regularly, pour on your wood board olive oil or groundnut oil to maintain its brightness. This little oiling process allows the material to not get dry and it reinforce its waterproofness.
It has to be cleaned after every usage to keep it in a good condition as long as possible and remove bad smells. You have three options to clean your olive wood board:
- Generously sprinkle baking soda on the surface, leave it for a couple of minutes then add salt. Use half of a lemon to rub the board. Rinse it all with water and wipe it with a soft towel.
- Squeeze the lemon juice directly on the wood board and leave it for 15 minutes. It will disinfect it entirely.
- Spray white vinegar on the board, leave it a couple of minutes, scrub with a little brush, rinse and wipe it with a little soft towel. The acid of the vinegar helps fight the bacterias.
Once you washed it, leave the board at fresh air before storing it. Never put your olive wood board into the dishwasher and don’t expose it to a source of heat: after all, it’s wood so it can catch fire.
When you purchase your olive wood board, you can buy one a generic one and choose the size that better suits you. But some brands also offer you the option to design and provide you a unique model, personalized to your taste.
Finally, if you want, you can complete your kitchen collection with other olive wood products:
- Olive wood bowls
- Olive wood servings
- Olive wood accessories
