Kenneth wrote:

> On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 01:29:57 -0500, "Bob (this one)"
> > wrote:
>
>>Kenneth wrote:
>>
>>>On 6 Mar 2005 06:42:09 +0100, Wayne Boatwright
> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Mom always oiled her cutting board after practically every use, or at least
>>>>after contact with liquid. I think she usually used vegetable oil.
>>>
>>>Howdy,
>>>
>>>If so, she was lucky that she did not lose the board to
>>>rancidity... Mineral oil (from the pharmacy) is a much
>>>better choice.
>>
>>How, exactly, does one "lose the board to rancidity?" The mineral oil
>>mantra is a recent arrival on the wooden cutting board scene. It's
>>based on faith, not empirical fact.
>>
>>A long time ago, it was animal fats. Butchers scraped their blocks and
>>rubbed them with lard or beef fat. Country people rubbed pig tails on
>>their skillets to grease them and their boards to "slick" them. Then
>>when liquid oils became available, they were used. Then the carpenters
>>and cabinetmakers got into the act and promoted mineral oil because it
>>works on armoires and dining room tables, and they just figured...
>>Normal people kept to food oils anyway, because they work just fine.
>>
>>The simple fact is that food oils work. They get exchanged in the
>>course of normal use and cleaning so that they need replacement
>>periodically. In the decades I've been in professional food service,
>>using wooden boards which we oiled with any of several different kinds
>>of food oils, not once have I ever seen or heard anyone else in the
>>business say their boards smelled rancid. In nearly 20 years of
>>dealing with kitchen questions on my radio program, amid all the other
>>calls I've dealt with about cutting boards, not one person has ever
>>raised the question of rancidity and their boards. In writing a couple
>>thousand articles and columns about food and cooking, not once has
>>anyone ever emailed me about rancid boards, although I've gotten them
>>on myriad other cutting board and chopping block issues.
>>
>>Forget that business about mineral oil. It's not necessary.
>>
>>Pastorio
>
> Hi Bob,
>
> Might you explain to me what it is about cutting boards that
> prevents vegetable oils from becoming rancid?

Did you see anywhere above where I said that food oils - not just
vegetable - are prevented from becoming rancid?

Perhaps your immersion in the theoretical has overwhelmed your
capacity for pragmatism. Perhaps you think that history started when
mineral oil became a commodity. I cited why I state that the food oils
don't become rancid, the conditions under which the boards are handled
and the results of that handling. I offered history. I offered the
reasons for my skepticism. I offered a clear lack of anything to even
remotely support your assertion about rancidity in cutting boards.

You have repeated the mineral oil mantra. And avoided answering the
question posed above: How, exactly, does one "lose the board to
rancidity?" For it to be credible, you have to offer a bit more than a
web site with bad information. A bit more than an unsupported opinion.

In another post I said that I was in the cutting board business for a
couple years. I investigated very widely about the manufacturing,
finishing and maintenance of boards. I tested the suggestions I read
and heard. And I found that the old ways with wood in the kitchen
worked better than the cabinetmaker's way. Animal fats are wonderful.
Food oils are grand. Those oils with wax melted into it is yet more grand.

And, sure, mineral oil can work, too. But it's not something most
people have on hand and it's simply not necessary. It's rather more
expensive than soybean or canola oil.

>(Or do you
> believe that characteristic of vegetable oil to be a myth as
> well.)

I believe that you think you've imparted great wisdom - that you
picked up and dropped in here without questioning it. Copied from
others who also don't know anything much empirical information about
how cutting boards work.

Explain how one can "lose a board to rancidity." Give me the name of
one person who has lost a board to rancidity. Tell me how long a board
with food oils on it will go before getting rancid. Show me one
reliable source that has an example of a board lost to rancidity. Back
up what you're saying with something a bit more concrete than "I said so."

Pastorio