My cutting boards stink!

[vermontgirl]

How do you get the smell of food out of cutting boards and pizza stones? They really reek and I assume there is some natural way to get rid of the smell without having to ditch them and buy new ones.

[aprons_and_acorns]

subbing because I have the same problem.

[Sundance_11]

I have the same problem too! Mine are icky plastic tho, I'm eventually going to get glass...that's the only thing I've thought of!
Mel

[Arduinna]

Baking soda works well.

[DaMajha]

have you tried rubbing a cut lemon on it?

[prana]

Have you tried lemon juice? Let it soak in. Then maybe try the sun.

[prana]

Oh, and you might want to add some oil to the board after you get the funk out. The lemon juice might dry it out. Oil will keep future smells from sinking in.

[prana]

And bamboo might be better than wood as far as smells sinking in.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by prana

And bamboo might be better than wood as far as smells sinking in.

Bamboo can be pretty tough on your knives, though, dulls the blades it's so hard.

Try a paste of baking soda and lemon juice, rubbed on, allowed to sit about 20 minutes then rinsed off. Put it outside in the sun to dry. That should help. Your board may need a bit of sanding if you haven't kept it conditioned. Once it's back to good shape, it'll need regular conditioning with oil to help prevent this problem.

[stickywicket67]

*
i initially suggested grapefruit seed extract but it looks like i need to do some more research...

i would try scrubbing the boards with baking soda and then let them sit in the sun to dry.

[aradia]

I recently soaked my plastic ones in Oxy-Clean overnight and it worked quite well on the stains/odor. If there are deep knife grooves in these, one can use a special planer to get it smooth again. Usually, I scrub them with hot soapy water and a brush and then run them through the dishwasher. The bacteria like to live in the scatches and grooves where they have food and moisture.

Glass cutting boards are also very tough on knives and very loud to my ears.

Also, I have found that my bamboo one will absorb odors just as easily as the other wood ones. Even though I thought I had scrubbed it well. . . .garlic flavored strawberries are not tasty.

Periodic sanding on the wood ones is fabulous as is regualr oiling. I also oil my bamboo ones.