If you're involved in food prep every week, you probably rely on a cutting board to protect surfaces in your kitchen. If your board is made out of wood, here are some maintenance tips that can help you get many years of use out of this kitchen resource.

Wash Regularly

It's not the most complex care step for a wooden food prep cutting board, but you need to wash it on a regular basis. This can help you remove food particles and residues that are left over after you get done cutting.

You might just want to use some warm water and liquid soap. This solution should be enough to remove pretty much anything on this cutting board while protecting the wood regardless of what variety it is. Then you can dry the board off with a microfiber towel to avoid damaging the surface.

Apply Mineral Oil For Added Protection 

Food prep cutting boards made out of wood are durable, but eventually could crack. However, you can keep this from happening for a long time if you apply mineral oil to the surface on a regular basis.

The mineral oil will act as a protective barrier and thus keep structural damage at bay. You just need to find a mineral oil that's designed for the specific type of wood your food prep cutting board is made of. Then you need to let the oil seep deep into the board's surface before washing it off with some water. 

Buff Out Scratches

If your wooden food prep cutting board does ever scratch, you don't have to just leave these imperfections alone and thus allow them to get bigger with time. You can get proactive and buff them out. It's not that hard either.

You just need to sand the scratch down enough to where you no longer notice the scratch. You can buff using manual or automatic tools depending on your particular preference. Just make sure you stop buffing once you no longer see the surface scratch anymore. This helps you protect the food prep cutting board structurally during this maintenance routine.

Food prep cutting boards made out of wood are amazing resources to keep in the kitchen because they safeguard countertops from scratches. If you want this board to last a long time, then you just need to pay attention to a couple of basic maintenance protocols that you can easily deal with yourself. 

For more information, contact a company such as Clean Prep Cutting Board.