Choosing and caring for your chopping board 

We cut to the chase on the essential item needed in every kitchen

Caulfield Country Boards from €15.50, in native Irish woods, deliver a range of boards including sustainable choices made up of beautiful offcuts made up into striped end-cut boards. caulfieldcountryboards.ie.

Timber boards are a kitchen classic that will show the slings and arrows of wear within a few months of regular use. Still, unlike cheap, practical plastic, they are sanded back and oiled to return them to safe, working perfection. You might be forgiven for thinking that the hardness of the wood marks out the durability and quality of a great, cutting board. The truth is more complex and tied to the way its constructed and the skill of the maker. Wood boards should actually yield and scar under the knife. This allows the blade to get some purchase as it slides down to the surface. So which boards and woods could last as long as a decade?

There is a range of timber species, all with subtle material and aesthetic differences, delivering versatile boards useful and beautiful enough to leave out on show. The harder and denser the wood (for instance maple), the more resistant it will be to light, surface cuts. Softer woods like walnut will give under the keen pressure of a blade, but will guard against damage to your precious (and expensive) tools. Olive wood with its light and dark bands, is very dense making it highly resistant to odours and stains — great for cutting garlic. Some sustainable and inexpensive species, including bamboo, are just too tough on a pricey knife for real foodies — diamond hard and slippery. Look into other wood types including paulownia, favoured by the Japanese, a softer wood in the hardwood category.