Choosing a cutting board choose renewable wood, Bamboo or plastic for your cutting board. Wood is best and the best wood cutting board is butcher block although there is edge grain wooden cutting boards as well as face grain wooden cutting boards. Butch

Although the Food and Drug Administration has long recommended plastic cutting boards, based on the observation that it not as hard to clean plastic as porous wood, new information shows that wood cutting boards are actually safer than the plastic or so-called anti-bacterial kind.

The small plastic boards are lighter than their wooden counterparts and can, unlike the wooden board, be cleaned in the dishwasher. They are easier to move from spot to spot in the kitchen, are rather inexpensive and come in real pretty colors. As you use a plastic board you will notice grooves cut into surface with small chunks of plastic missing. Ever wonder where that missing plastic went? How about into the food, perhaps the food that was eaten by your baby, or fed to that special guest.

Another kind of plastic cutting board is the very flexible kind. These are very useful if you do a lot of baking. They can be used to measure out ingredients onto and for some forms of fine chopping. Then the whole thing can be picked up, curled into a funnel, and the contents neatly deposited in a mixer or blender.

There are also glass and Corian types of boards. These are as heavy as, if not heavier than, wood. The glass board is subject to breakage if dropped and both will dull rapidly the knives used on them.

All of this brings us back to wood. Wood forgives. If it should have some of the surface removed it is a natural fiber and won't damage the digestive system. Unlike the rest of the types, with just a little elbow grease every couple of years the wooden board will look new for a long, long time. It has been estimated that the average life of a well cared for, and well constructed wooden cutting board is in excess of 150 years. May you get to use yours that long

If you are looking to buy a new cutting board, or to make your own, here are 6 tips for selecting a good new one and the quality goals for your construction.

1) Look for tight grained hardwoods. Avoid boards made of ANY softwood such as pine.

2) Look for edge grain or end grain cutting surfaces, not face grain. Face grain is far less resistant to damage from knives and will not last.

3) Narrow boards or strips laminated together are less likely to warp or split than a cutting board made up of two or three wide planks.

4) Look for good tight joints. Gaps or filler in the joints indicate sloppy workmanship, and an inferior product.

5) Make sure no dyes or stains were used. If you want a cutting board with more pizzazz than the common maple board, buy or make one that uses several different hardwoods with natural color. These won't bleed out into your food or interfere with the mineral oil protecting the wood.

6) Do not buy a board that has any kind of a film finish on it and do not apply one to the board you make. No matter what it is, it will get cut up and start to flake off into your food. It may be non-toxic, but anyone who puts a film finish on a cutting board is making a decorative piece, not one intended for use.