cutting board oil

Feb 28, 2011 40 Replies

What is food grade mineral oil? Do I get it at the hardware store or? I just read wykepedia about oils to use on a cutting board that I have that is drying up, and starting to split. It also suggests poppyseed or tung oil, not sure where to get that, either. It seems to say NOT to use any kind of cooking oil, as it becomes rancid. What do YOU use?



Steve


On 2/28/2011 12:16 PM SteveB spake thus:

Well, *I* use cooking oil, thank you very much. Works fine for me. Haven't noticed any problems with rancidity; just a matter of keeping the board reasonably clean. Olive oil or whatever works fine.

DON'T USE TUNG OIL! At least not the boiled variety; contains toxic stuff (driers). Maybe UNBOILED linseed oil. But just use ordinary vegetable oil.

Dunno about food-grade mineral oil; sounds OK, but I don't know where to get it either.

The laxative section of your nearest drugstore.

The same mineral oil you take when you need to take a s*it.

Go to the pharmacy and get the stuff they sell for, um, bowel lubrication.

Tung oil I would not use , it hardens as a finish that will wear off into your food. I dont know of any non food grade "mineral oil", its all edible from the pharmacy.

For innies or outies?

Sorry, someone had to say it...........................................

I'll just leave now ..........................

Steve ;-)

***

Look here:

formatting link

Look here:

formatting link

-comprehension-skills.html -

It is mineral oil that is guaranteed not to have harmful contaminants and commonly used as a laxative. It is clear and comes in a bottle and can be found at your neighborhood drug store or pharmacy or if you want to pay more you can can get it at a kitchen store labeled as butcher block treatment.

One correction. It can be harmful in larger than usual doses.

I would not use it for this purpose since you cannot predict how much it will contaminate the food. If it's too much, you'll s*it yourself to death.

Butcher shops use mineral oil. Any mineral oil is food grade. If you're gonna consider a petroleum product food grade ingestible, why be picky. Mineral oil has been recommended for ingestion to relieve severe constipation for decades. Not me! Mineral oil is available in any drug store, pharmacy, and most likely the over-the-counter pharmaceutical section of most supermarkets.

BTW, those old comedy movies of unfortunate kids having a hard time swallowing castor oil is true, but it's not the taste the kids are grimacing over, it's the density of the oil. Like mineral oil, trying to swallow a big ol' spoonfull of castor, mineral, and most other oils, is like trying to swallow a solid object. It induces one's gag reflex and is often next to impossible to choke down even if, like mineral oil, it's completely tasteless.

I choose not to oil my cutting board with any oil. I jes clean it with warm soap and water and sometimes a mild water/bleach solution. A good board, made of maple or some other appropriate wood and a quality glue, will last for years.

If you buy one of the huge butcher block tables that cost $$$$ and will last forever and insist on oiling it, use mineral oil. Those things get cleaned several times a day, and worn down from heavy use. So much meat passes over them, there's little chance of ingesting much mineral oil.

My aversion to ingesting petroleum products is jes my own personal hang-up. ;)

nb

For cutting boards, you just wipe the oil on and wipe off again. Food grade would be that sold at pharmacies or food stores, safe to ingest. You would not get more than a trace of it on food, used properly. In long term use (ingestion), mineral oil can cause vitamin deficiency (of oil soluble vitamins, A, D, E and K).

That's fine. You do what you want with it. I use vegetable oil to stone my knives with. But then I wash everything after. If this dude's cutting board is drying/cracking, nothing will fix it. If he wants to prevent further degeneration he should use Canola, Peanut, Corn oil. Those aren't as much of a threat as petroleum based mineral oil.

Enuff said I'm outta this one.

Did you mean to write he *shouldn't* use vegetable oils such as canola corn oil because of rancidity issues?

On 2/28/2011 12:16 PM SteveB spake thus:

Well, *I* use cooking oil, thank you very much. Works fine for me. Haven't noticed any problems with rancidity; just a matter of keeping the board reasonably clean. Olive oil or whatever works fine.

--------------

Olive oil is one of the most unstable oils around. That is a big no-no. That is really bad unsanitary advice you giving.

The only cooking oil you can use to seal cutting boards is coconut oil because it's the only stable inert cooking oil there is.

It's best to use either beeswax or USP mineral oil or any other inert oil.

Disinfect win vinegar periodically. Use salt as a stain remover.

You can use RAW tung oil but I dunno any cook that does.

Bed, Bath & Beyond sells stuff that seems okay. It was near the cutting boards.

Don't use olive oil.

I took one spoon of that in my whole life. It ranks in the top three worst things I have ever eaten. After they outlawed all the patent medicines with cocaine and the good stuff in them, castor oil was the cureall. You didn't dare look like you were sick or ............................

SteveB

Heart surgery pending? Read up and prepare. Download the book $10

formatting link

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required