Satiman UKSW

One indispensable kitchen utensil is the cutting board. Whether they are made of wood or plastic, cutting boards require proper cleaning. A quick wash will not eliminate bacteria that can find its way into crevices caused by regular cuts and chops from your knife or a cleaver. Special care needs to be taken when the board is used for cutting raw meat.

It is safer to use two boards: one for vegetables, bread and cooked meats; the other solely for raw meat. Color-coded boards help to make the distinction and effectively eliminates cross-contamination of raw meat bacteria that leads to food poisoning.

Food poisoning can be quite serious. It can leave you sick and weak for weeks. The good news is we can prevent incidents of food poisoning by cleaning our cutting board the correct way. Some homes have a dishwasher, which not only cleans, but also sanitizes your cutting boards. Do not fret if you do not have a dishwasher. Manually cleaning your board correctly will give you the same result.

Here is a simple method for keeping those cutting boards clean and sanitized. First, give your cutting board a good scrub with hot, sudsy water. Then sanitize the clean board for 10 minutes with a solution of 3 tablespoons of vinegar to one cup of water. For easy application, keep this solution in a spray bottle. Let the board air-dry or wipe it with a clean kitchen towel before storing it away.

Tip: Hydrogen peroxide at 3% strength is another way to go. Both products are safe for using around food. Use this simple method to keep your cutting or chopping board free of bacteria. Prevent food poisoning by doing it right every time.

By: Abe Kline

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There are many kitchen utensils available for use in your kitchen, and they are tools that will ultimately make the cooking process that much quicker and easier for you. First of all, you need to ensure you can measure out the correct quantities of ingredients when wanting to prepare a dish. To do this you will need to buy some weighing/ kitchen scales and a measuring jug. Most weighing scales will come with a bowl, in which you will place the dry ingredient you want weigh. Make sure that you adjust the scale to 0 (or turn on an electronic set) when this bowl is atop the scales, but still empty. This will mean you get an accurate measurement once you add your ingredient. Measuring jugs will simply have a gauge printed on the side so you can pour in the desired amount of liquid for your recipe.

Make sure you have a good set of basic tools, such as a spatula, ladle, potato masher and tongs. Some of these may be able to be bought as a set with each other, and basically make the handling of food safer and easier. The spatula will help you scrape saucepans and mixing bowls out, to make sure you get everything you cooked; the ladle will help you serve soups and liquids (make sure you get a version with holes too, which can be used for serving food cooked in water, thus meaning you can drain off the excess; a potato masher will allow you to mash any soft vegetables or fruit if you desire; and tongs can be used for turning over food when cooking, or serving it at the end. A pasta server is similar to tongs, but often plastic, and is another useful addition to allow you to better handle slippery cooked pasta. A colander is also a great essential to allow you to drain large quantities of food in one go.

Chopping board – Can be made of wood, plastic, glass and granite.