Walnut wood is a good wood to use for cutting boards or serving boards. It has the right hardness, closed grain, and is not toxic if you treat it right. There are many types of walnut trees, these are some of the most common:
- American walnut (Juglans nigra) is dark chocolate in color
- English or Persian walnut (Juglans regia) is light brown in color
- White walnut or Butternut (Juglans cinerea) is light brown
- Japanese walnut (Juglans ailantifolia) is light brown too
All walnut wood is good for food preparation, but the darker walnut has a more unique color.
All 21 walnut trees in Juglandaceae family – peruvian walnut
Name (Latin name) - Suitable for cutting or serving boards
American or Black walnut (Juglans nigra)
English or Persian walnut (Juglans regia)
White walnut or butternut (Juglans cinerea)
California Black Walnut (Juglans californica) - Mostly too small for proper wood
Northern California Black Walnut (Juglans hindsii)
Arizona Black Walnut (Juglans major)
Andean Walnut (also Columbian, Ecuadorian walnut or Cedro negro) (Juglans neotropica)
Japanese Walnut (Juglans ailantifolia)
Little Walnut (Juglans microcarpa) - Mostly too small for proper wood
Manchurian Walnut (Juglans mandshurica)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juglans
American walnut trees grow in the eastern and central United States. The English or Persian walnut trees grow across Europe, Iran and parts of Asia. White walnut or Butternut grows in the north eastern parts of the United States. Japanese walnut mainly grows in Japan.
Walnut, like any wood, needs to be dried for a while after cutting down. The additional benefit of this drying process for walnut wood is that this reduces the amount of the Juglone toxin, making the wood safe for using as a serving board or a walnut chopping board.
The walnut wood has the perfect hardness or density for using as a chopping surface.
This wood is antibacterial. As wood attracts water, any water left of the cutting board surface will be pulled inside the wood, stopping bacterial growth on the chopping board.
Finally, walnut wood does not have open pores. Open pores is bad, as meat can be lodged in the open pores, generating bacteria growth.
The walnut tree is a hardwood. Hardwood trees like walnut, oak and maple are deciduous, that means they have leaves that fall off in winter. Softwood trees like pines and firs are coniferous/evergreen, with needles that stay on during the winter.
Compared with softwoods, hardwoods are generally
- Harder. Hardwoods generally are more scratch resistant and harder wearing than softwoods. They usually are higher on the Janka Hardness scale.
- Heavier. As hardwoods are denser than softwoods, they tend to weigh more.
- Darker. Hardwoods in general are darker than softwoods.
- More grained. Hardwoods have a stronger and more distinctive grain than softwoods.
- More expensive. Hardwood trees grow slower, so the wood is usually more expensive than softwoods.
- Harder to work. As hardwoods are denser, they require higher quality tools to work the wood.
In general, you want to use hardwoods for cutting boards or serving boards, as these woods are more durable and resistant to wear and use.
When selecting a wood to use for a serving or cutting board, it is very important to choose a wood that is not toxic. A general rule is that if a tree has edible fruits or sap or similar, it is likely not toxic.
However, walnut trees contain a toxin called Juglone (5-hydroxy-alphanapthoquinone). The largest quantity of juglone can be found in American or white walnut, while English walnut contains slightly less. Juglone is released by the walnut trees to limit the growth of a number of other plants near the tree and to protect its fruit husks from parasites, and it can be harmful to horses.
A quality provider of cutting boards will make sure their walnut wood has been dried properly so that the Juglone will not be an issue. As long as you buy your product from a quality supplier, you should not worry about Juglone toxicity.
Please note that a very few people are highly sensitive to Juglone, and they might break out in a rash when holding a walnut board, even if it has an extremely low level of Juglone.
To find the perfect type of wood for a cutting board, we can use a measure called the Janka Hardness scale. This looks at how much force it takes to press a 7/16 inch metal ball halfway into a piece of wood. The wood should have 12% moisture content and be free of knots. It is measured in pounds-force (lbf).
In general, a wood with a low Janka Hardness number (e.g. balsa wood) is not very dense. It will be very soft on your knives, but knives will rapidly damage the surface of a cutting board made from such soft wood.
If a wood species has a high Janka Hardness score, like bamboo, the surface will be very dense and resist knife damage. However, your knives are likely to blunt much faster.
So the perfect Janka Hardness score for a cutting board is around 1000 pounds-force, just in the middle. Some of the most common walnuts:
- American Walnut: 1010 lbf
The texture of walnut wood is one of the main selling points. In addition to beautiful grained wood, it can be burled and patterned in a million different ways too.
If you imagine a plank of walnut wood, the largest side is the side grain. The shorter side is the side grain, and the end of each planks has the end grain. Some planks are featuring a side that is not straight, typically one that faced outwards where the bark has been taken off. This side is called a live grain.
Walnut wood comes in a large variety of colors, from almost black to almost white.
The American walnut is the darkest, typically ranging from brown to black. It can sometimes have a bit of a purple tinge to it, too. English walnut has dark heartwood (the wood in the middle of the tree), but lighter brown sapwood (the wood on the outside of the tree).
White walnut/butternut and Japanese walnut is usually light brown, but can be almost white to a deeper brown in color.
Walnut wood is a sustainable choice. There is a big demand for walnut wood, due to its beautiful colour, but the American black walnut and English walnut are not threatened. The White walnut or butternut is listed as vulnerable in some States and in Canada.
There are different types of cutting boards that you can make from walnut. The best quality boards have a juice groove for catching meat juices when carving or any other juices or water from what you are cutting. To make it easier to carry, they also have handles or finger grooves to help lift and move the cutting board. The word for cutting board in British English is chopping board, so you will sometimes see this word used instead.
The largest and heaviest of cutting boards are butcher blocks, typically made from end grain wood. These big blocks are very stable but hard to move, so are often placed on a dedicated area on the kitchen workbench (or even on its own stand). A butcher block is sometimes called a chopping block.
Some of the best wooden cutting boards are made by John Boos [add more brands and links].
You should never wash a wooden board in the dishwasher or submerge it in your sink. This causes the wood to crack or warp.
If you have just cut bread or similar, you can just brush of the crumbs. No need to wash the board between each use, it might be enough to just wipe the surface clean with a damp paper towel.
For vegetables, meat etc, you want to wash your board with soap and water. If necessary, you can scrape off any stuck on bits first. Use soap and water and wash it on both sides. When done, dry off excess water, and then let it airdry over night before putting it away. Wood absorbs water, so it is important that it dries properly.
Some vegetables like red beets might leave a stain on your board. This is not a problem, but if you want to get it out, you can mix baking soda and water on the board and gently scrub away the stain.
You should oil your serving board or cutting board regularly, probably every 3-6 months. One way to test if it is time to oil your board is to put some water droplets on the board. If they are absorbed into the board, it might be time to re-oil your surface.
The simplest and cheapest oil to use is mineral oil. If you are using vegetable oil like olive oil, it might go rancid, so please avoid these.
You can also use waxes, like beeswax. You can also mix beeswax and oil.
See this video from Wirecutter for more: https://youtu.be/uof56capHnQ
Or this article: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/guides/how-to-clean-wood-cutting-boards/
Walnut wood is an excellent material for a cutting board. It is hard enough to resist knives and not being cut into pieces, yet soft enough not to damage your knife. The grain is closed, so it will not leave splinters that can attract food remains and bacteria. It is not toxic to humans when treated properly. And walnut has a beautiful color and grain. So in sum, walnut is a very good choice for a cutting board.
Both walnut and maple are excellent hardwoods for use as a cutting board. Because of high demand, they are both very expensive woods. The main difference is the color, where walnut is dark brown to black, maple tends to be lighter brown to almost white.
Wood is very good at attracting humidity. Any humidity left on a cutting board will be sucked into the board, and thus not allow bacteria to form on the surface of the board.
American black walnut trees are plentiful, but they grow slowly. Because of their beautiful wood grain and colour, there is a large demand for this wood. Cloumann mostly uses walnut in its inlays, to get the beauty of walnut but reduce the use of it.