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Product FeaturesSize: 18 by 12 by 1-1/2-Inch
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Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description
Add a handsome yet highly functional tool to your kitchen arsenal with this solid, reversible Boos Block maple wood cutting board from John Boos, which measures 18 by 12 by 1-1/2 inches (LxWxH). Strong and heavy, this finely crafted board is built to endure all of your chopping, mincing, and dicing needs. This board has a hard maple edge-grain construction with two flat sides and slightly rounded edges for comfortable handling. It features handgrips on the ends for easy transport from countertop to stovetop and a Boos Block cream finish with beeswax. The thick board will hold large cuts of meat, piles of vegetables and small size turkeys or cornish game hens. Keep your Boos cutting board clean by simply washing it with hot soapy water after each use and dry it with a clean paper towel or let it air dry.
This board was shipped from the factory with a penetrating oil finish which allows for great cutting, chopping, and slicing, but it's important to give your cutting board a good oiling on all surfaces every 3-4 weeks. When the cutting board becomes dry and lighter in color, you know that the time has come to re-oil your board. With a minimum amount of care and maintenance, you can lengthen the life of your Boos Board by many years.
More appealing and attractive than a plastic, a wooden cutting board is a great alternative to plastic cutting boards as it can inhibit bacteria growth, while plastic boards harbor bacteria in the grooves cut into their surface. (Although Boos Block cutting boards do not harbor bacteria, it is a good habit to use separate cutting boards for different types of food prep.) Wood cutting boards are also easier on knives, where plastic boards can dull knives quickly. Boos Block cutting boards are manufactured by John Boos & Co. in Effingham, Illinois, which has been manufacturing high-quality wood cutting boards, butcher blocks, and countertops since 1887.
From the Manufacturer
Every professional or at-home chef knows the importance of a good cutting board. John Boos has developed a full line of professional-quality FDA-approved cutting boards in a variety of styles to accommodate individual needs and preferences. Choose from end-grain or edge-grain construction and from over 39 shapes and sizes.
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The History of John Boos & Co
How It All Started
John Boos & Co. is the oldest industry in South Central Illinois, located in Effingham Illinois, and the company has been in business since 1887. Conrad Boos Sr. founded the business in 1887 and named it after his son, John. For many years he worked out of the blacksmith shop in Effingham, and lumber was cut from areas in close proximity. In 1892, the plant moved to its present location at 315 South First Street in Effingham.
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The blacksmith used a Sycamore tree placed on three legs to straighten horseshoes. The wooden block absorbed the shock of the hammer. In 1890, a local butcher realized the block could be used for cutting meat, and had one made for this purpose. The word spread to surrounding small towns and cities and by 1911, John Boos was shipping from coast to coast. Commercial meat markets were very popular through the 1959, and with the advent of dishwashers and plastic, the commercial market began to feel the impact of a lower-cost alternative, though perhaps not as safe!
In 1956, John Boos began to take some of their products to local retail shops and offer the blocks and cutting boards for resale. Merchants would sell these products to consumers for home use. Today, it is common to see John Boos cutting boards in both the commercial kitchen of hotels and restaurants, culinary schools and even cooking shows on television. The old craftsmen work ethic is still around at John Boos & Co. There have been a few changes, though. Sycamore lumber is no longer used--John Boos manufactures premium Hard Rock Maple lumber from surrounding states in the mid-west, most of which comes from the Northern States. And John Boos automation has replaced much of the older equipment. The 1942 block press is one piece of equipment that's still very much in use today, however.
John Boos & Co. utilizes 100% of their raw material to benefit the manufacturing processes. The smallest lumber scraps are transformed into sawdust and used as the material of choice to generate electricity and create steam to fuel the boilers. The steam is also used to operate the glue presses and dry kilns. Any saw dust unused by the company is provided to the local agricultural industry.
The Early Years
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In 1892 the Boos family sold interest in the company to the Gravenhorst family. (There is currently a fifth generation Gravenhorst working for the company. T.S. Gravenhorst, III was named President in 1978 and held that office until retirement in 2002.) In 1895 the building burned and was rebuilt; however, in1899 it was decided that more space was needed, and it was then that they moved to the present site of 315 South First Street. The building was purchased from the old Effingham furniture manufacturing company.
In 1920, extra buildings and kiln capacity were added. By the 1940s, butcher blocks were found in every restaurant, food store and butcher shop in America. Then came World War II, which was instrumental in changing the manufacturing philosophy of the management at John Boos and also the course of the business.
Last Half of the Century
In 1955, the company expanded by adding a dry kiln, increasing its office space and adding more manufacturing space. The shipping docks were enlarged, warehousing space added and new products added. In addition to the standard old-style butcher blocks, butcher block tops, which are laminated strips of northern hard rock maple or Appalachian red oak, were in great demand, not only in the foodservice industry, but also in the home.
The company continued to expand during the late 1960s and early '70s with the growth of its metal fabricated table market. Metal tables had replaced the butcher block as a necessary product in the majority of foodservice/supermarket establishments. Tables with poly or synthetic tops, stainless-steel tops and maple tops were being manufactured. And even though the government was tough on wood products through the 1970s and '80s, the company continued to grow with its new line of BDL store fixtures, park benches and other butcher block furniture items.
Current Products & Markets
The wood and metal products are listed with the National Sanitation Foundation, the leader in sanitation agencies for approving equipment to be installed in foodservice and supermarket operations. The products must have approval of various sanitation agencies in order to be accepted by the industry.
John Boos & Co. Cucina products, butcher blocks and cutting boards are being used by celebrity chefs throughout the United States. Celebrity chefs currently using John Boos products are Charlie Trotter, Ming Tsai, Paul Kahan, Susan Spicer at Bayona Restaurant in New Orleans, and Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feninger at Border Grill in Santa Monica, California. In addition, the country's premier food channel, "The Food Network" features chefs such as Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse, who prepare meals every day on John Boos cutting boards. In most cases Boos cutting boards are used on the daily and weekly television programs sponsored for the chefs.
In 1994 we were awarded the Gold Medal for Excellence in Foodservice Equipment by the Chefs of America. This ceremony was conducted at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and we were 1 of only 22 companies receiving awards.
Hard Rock Maple
Hard Rock Maple is the board of choice among professionals because it's friendly to a knife's edge, has anti-bacterial properties, and the larger boards are skid-free, and stay firm while in use. There are also many board designs for different applications and use. John Boos edge-grain-constructed hard maple boards are NSF (National Sanitation Foundation) certified, this regulatory agency governs the commercial markets, as it pertains to particular health and sanitization codes. Still many are unaware of the studies conducted by the NSF, Dr. Dean Cliver, and others, on how the maple boards kill bacteria.
Care and Maintenance
How do I keep my cutting board sanitized?
Keep your Boos cutting board clean by simply washing it with hot soapy water after each use and dry it with a clean paper towel or let it air dry. If you want to sanitize the board more thoroughly, a diluted mixture of chlorine bleach or vinegar solution consisting of one teaspoon of liquid chlorine bleach in one quart of water or a one to five dilution of vinegar.
Do not soak or submerge the board in water, for this will disrupt the moisture content and cause the rails to split. Wood cutting boards are NOT dishwasher-safe.
How do I maintain and prolong the life of my cutting board?
It is extremely important to give your cutting board a good oiling on all surfaces every 3-4 weeks. Your Boos board shipped from the factory with a Boos block cream finish with beeswax, which protects and prolongs the life of your board. We recommend keeping the board oiled with John Boos Mystery Oil and/or Boos Block Cream with Beeswax.
John Boos & Company Today
Facilities
The company currently occupies approximately 150,000 square feet of total production capacity in Effingham, IL and approximately 65,000 square feet of manufacturing capacity in Philipsburg, PA and Suring, WI, which produce wooden school furniture. The company has four dry kilns that will dry up to 210,000 board feet of lumber on a continual basis. There are 140 employees in the Effingham facility. Most of the hardwoods used for manufacturing is shipped from Great Lakes states via truck, while our second largest commodity, stainless steel, comes from steel warehouses and distribution centers in Chicago, Indianapolis, and St. Louis. The company currently is cutting up about five million feet of maple and oak each year.
Research: Plastic and Wooden Cutting Boards
A research team led by Dean O. Cliver, Ph.D compared plastic and wooden cutting boards. Their research was first intended to develop means of disinfecting wooden cutting surfaces at home, so that they would be almost as safe as plastics. They found that disease bacteria were not recoverable from wooden surfaces in a short time after they were applied, unless very large numbers were used. New plastic surfaces allowed the bacteria to persist, but were easily cleaned and disinfected. However, wooden boards that had been used and had many knife cuts acted almost the same as new wood, whereas plastic surfaces that were knife-scarred were impossible to clean and disinfect manually, especially when food residues such as chicken fat were present. Scanning electron micrographs revealed highly significant damage to plastic surfaces from knife cuts.
Although the bacteria that have disappeared from the wood surfaces are found alive inside the wood for some time after application, they evidently do not multiply, and they gradually die. They can be detected only by splitting or gouging the wood or by forcing water completely through from one surface to the other. If a sharp knife is used to cut into the work surfaces after used plastic or wood has been contaminated with bacteria and cleaned manually, more bacteria are recovered from a used plastic surface than from a used wood surface.
The research team has no commercial relationships to any company making cutting boards or other food preparation utensils. They believe, on the basis of their published and to-be-published research, that food can be prepared safely on wooden cutting surfaces and that plastic cutting surfaces present some disadvantages that had been previously overlooked. In conclusion, they believe their research shows evidence that wooden cutting boards are not a hazard to human health, but plastic cutting boards may be.
Product Description
Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
135 of 138 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Heavy Duty Utility Wood Cutting Board for all your Chopping Needs,
By When shopping for a cutting board, there are several factors you want to consider: Material, Size, Shape, Upkeep. Material: There are several to choose from, but Wood is the best if you care about your knives and your chopping arm. Wood is the easiest on your knives because the blade will sink into the wood instead of dulling on it (as if you were on granite/glass). It absorbs the shock of the impact, unlike granite/glass, which can be quite jarring to cut on. Wood also has natural antibacterial properties. There was rumors going on for awhile about the dangers of wood harboring bacteria, but after extensive research, they found out the wood actually seems to kill bacteria naturally. Scientists were not able to recover bacteria on a wood board after an hour, yet they could recover bacteria from plastic after days... There's extensive material on this, so I'll let you research more of it on your own as I continue the review of this board. The advantages that a plastic cutting board has over a wood board (it's easy to clean, dishwasher safe, light, easy to store) goes downhill over time - whereas the advantages of a wood board deteriorates very little over time. The biggest reason for this is that a plastic cutting board is only "cleaner" than a wood board when it's brand new. As soon as it gets knife scored, those little crevices harbors bacteria. People say that can be taken care of by scrubbing with soap - but think about it, you can't FULLY clean your teeth by just brushing! Why? Because brushing does not get into the crevices between your teeth, that's why it's crucial to floss. Now think about how much smaller a knife cut in plastic is than the crevices between your teeth. Microscopically smaller, yet large enough for lots of microscopic bacteria to live in. Then some people say to soak the plastic board in bleach water. This doesn't work either because of the vacuum effect and water's surface tension. You'd need to be able to force the bleach water INTO each knife score to rinse out the bacteria in there. Water will not force it's way into a vacuum like that on it's own (what you're doing when you simply dunk it into a container of bleach water). Bottom line when it comes to plastic vs wood - wood has natural anti-bacteria properties that does not diminish over time, and a knife scored plastic board does not. Even all studies and people recommending plastic over wood tell you to toss the plastic board when it becomes badly scored. Size & Shape: I think that this 20 x 15 x 2.25 size is excellent - although, it's the "heavy duty" size - it also comes in a thinner model, 1.5" thick. I like having a board that is large enough to chop on, and then move items over to little piles off to the side while I chop something else. The rectangle shape allows me to do this better than a square or circle. An oval shape might work, but it would be harder to store since you can't stand it on it's side. There are larger and smaller of these John Boos boards but I think a larger one would be too bulky and heavy (this board is just about the topmost limit that my kitchen countertop can handle, along with my sink to wash the board in). This board is also 17.33lbs, which makes it a quite bulky and heavy. These boards also comes in 2 thicknesses: 1.5" and 2.25" thick. I think if you buy a wood board you want it at least an inch thick. Thinner boards warp/break easier. You need it to be hefty. The 1.5" thick of this board is perfect for the regular home chef. The 2.25" thick one is good for heavy chopping - as in bones, and is more in line of a "butcher block". Upkeep: Glass/Granite can break/chip, but otherwise can last forever. It's easy to clean, can be very pretty, and is dishwasher safe. It's just jarring to cut on and will dull your blades. Plastic is superior on everything easy. Dishwasher safe. Light, easy to store, cheap, comes in different colors...but be prepared to replace it as soon as it's badly knife scored. Wood. Of all the materials, wood needs the most to upkeep. You can buy John Boos Mystery Oil which is a mixture of Mineral Oil, Linseed Oil And Tung Oil. You can't just use any oil because it needs to be safe to eat in case of any oil transfer, and you don't want an oil that can go rancid. You just oil the wood every 4-6 weeks . Wood is not dishwasher safe. You want to avoid ever soaking wood in water, although a quick scrub and rinse through the sink, along with a quick and thorough drying with a towel will do the trick just fine. Yes, it's more work than the others, but it's not THAT much work, and I think it's defnitely worth it. One more note about wood boards. Maple is the best material becaues of it's small pore size ratio to hardness of wood. You might think that oak is very hard wood, but it has bigger pores, so stick with Maple. John Boos Cutting Board Conclusion: I think this is a perfect cutting board. The material, size, shape, weight, is all right. John Boo has also been doing this since 1887, so it's a good American company that's been around long enough to know a little something about wood. The customer service is great as well. My only complaint is that it's not very pretty. It's quite plain looking. The wood boards are a gorgeous addition to my kitchen, warming it up and giving it a very earthy and real feel - but being a girl, the cherry on top would have been if it were just "prettier". One last thing, this board is reversible. I don't like when they put little feet on one side of the board that prevents you from using both sides. This extends the use and life of the board and I think it's a shame to take that away. You can always just place a removeable, nonslip surface under your wood board to keep it in place - like silicone pad or a sheet of that non-slip drawer liner stuff.
166 of 185 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Nice, but not END GRAIN quality,
The other review for this cutting board is accurate, but fails to mention one important factor...this board is constructed of EDGE grain maple, not END grain maple. This makes a huge difference when chopping and slicing. End grain cutting boards and butcher blocks are prefered by home and professional chefs for a number of reasons. End grain construction does not dull the edges of expensive cutlery the way Edge grain does. End grain boards also cut easier, have a more varied and figured grain, and a cutting surface that lasts longer. In the end, it's not worth spending $[...] (with shipping) on a John Boos Edge grain cutting board from Amazon.com, when for the same price, you can buy a quality End grain cutting board that will perform better, save your knife blades, has a prettier grain, and will last a lifetime.
This is a decent cutting board for the average home chef, but simply not worth the money. Buy an End grain maple butcher block 16" x 20" for $[...] from t[...]. They have a large selection, quality construction, beautiful craftsmanship, and competetive prices. When you compare the two, the choice is obvious. And if you still want this John Boos cutting board, [...] has them for $[...] with no tax and FREE shipping!!! Amazon just doesn't seem to stay price competetive when it comes to their houseware items. Lastly, whatever board you get, make sure to season it periodically with FDA approved mineral oil. This will keep the board from bending or cracking and will preserve your knife blade edges and the cutting board itself.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must have!!,
By Cooker (California) - See all my reviews 2115|R3274GIP3YRJP;2115|R1HP8B5LXX1G3Q;2115|R2C79RVRJLRN2P;
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