Craster Oak Charcuterie Board 13.8 Inch

This is the one piece here that must never see a dishwasher. Oak is a living material and an oiled finish is a maintained one, so a board like this asks for about a minute of care a few times a year and gives back decades in return.

• Oiled, not sealed The finish soaks into the wood rather than sitting on top of it as a film.
• Re-oil when it looks dry A thin coat every few months keeps the grain from opening up.
• Just under fourteen inches A board for a course rather than for a whole cheese trolley.

Why Oiled Beats Varnished

A varnished board is a plastic film over wood. It looks flawless until the film chips, and then moisture gets underneath it and nothing can be done. An oil finish has no film to break. Damage to an oiled board is repaired by sanding and re-oiling the spot, which is not true of any sealed surface. The cost is that oil is consumed: it dries out, and a board left dry for a year goes gray and opens along the grain.

Wood and Water Do Not Mix

A dishwasher does three things a board cannot survive: it soaks the wood, it heats it, and it dries it fast. Together those swell the fibers and then shrink them unevenly, which is how a solid board splits. Washing is a damp cloth and a dry one afterward, never a soak, and the board is stood on edge to dry rather than laid flat where one face stays wet.

Fourteen Inches of Working Surface

At 13.8 by 7.5 inches this is a board for one course. It carries a cheese and its accompaniments, or a charcuterie selection for three or four people, and it fits on a table already holding plates. A larger board becomes the table rather than sitting on it, which is a different kind of evening.

Oiling, Cutting and Odors

What oil should be used on it? Food-safe mineral oil or a board conditioner. Cooking oils go rancid in wood over time and leave a smell that does not wash out.

Can I cut directly on it? You can, and knife marks are what oiled wood is good at absorbing. A board used for cutting needs re-oiling more often than one used only for presentation.

What removes a garlic or fish smell? Coarse salt and half a lemon, rubbed over the surface and rinsed off with a damp cloth. Oil afterward, because that treatment strips some of what was there.