PSA: That old wooden cutting board you inherited might be a bacteria farm

I grabbed my grandma's old wooden cutting board out of storage last month because it looked so nice and vintage. After using it for a couple weeks I noticed a weird smell no matter how much I scrubbed it. Someone on a cooking forum told me to do a salt and lemon scrub then let it dry for 48 hours. The brown liquid that came out of that thing was disgusting now I just use it as a decoration and bought a $20 bamboo one from Target that doesn't make me paranoid. Has anyone else had a similar reality check with old kitchen tools they thought were treasures?

3 comments

3 Comments

robins8328d ago

...so my buddy Dave found his great aunt's cast iron skillet in the basement and spent a whole weekend restoring it. Looked perfect, smooth as glass. First time he cooked bacon in it, this black gunk started bubbling up from the seams. Turned out she'd been using it to melt lead for fishing weights back in the 70s. He keeps it on his wall now as a conversation piece but won't cook with it ever again. Sometimes vintage just means old problems you can't see.

tara64227d ago

Saw a food safety article about that exact thing. Lead poisoning from old cookware is no joke, especially when they used it for hobbies or repairs. Better safe than sorry with a nice wall piece.

the_thea27d ago

Oh man, the brown liquid. That same thing happened with a vintage bread knife I found at a flea market. Thought I scored big because the handle was this beautiful carved wood. Scrubbed it with soap and water a few times, but after I used it to slice a tomato the blade started smelling like old pennies and the handle got all sticky. Left it soaking in vinegar overnight and the water turned this nasty yellow-brown. Ended up tossing it. Some things are better left as decorations for sure.