Cutting board stains bugged me for years. I have a couple of cheap white cutting boards that I use to cut meat and other messy foods so keep my good cutting board handy. It’s a good system that works well for the most part, but there was one aspect of the white cutting board that plagued me for years. I had no idea how to keep them truly white!
When I rinsed it off I felt confident that my white cutting boards were getting cleaned well. But still, they developed a warped section right in the center that I couldn’t remove no matter how hard I tried. I used every cleaning solution I could think of, including my usual “secret weapon”, my Kitchen Miracle Cleaner. But that stain still won’t go away!
Related: My Miracle Cleaner These 10 cleansers work wonders on headaches
After a lot of trial and error, I finally figured out the trick to getting that stain out. To my surprise, it wasn’t even the cleaning solution that did the trick – it was Lemon! Lemon essential oil And lemon juice contains psoralen, a compound that can increase sensitivity to light. When combined with the naturally bleaching power of sunlight, you can literally bleach stains in hours without scrubbing! Here’s how you can do it in your own backyard. (But be sure to wait until a sunny day to try this process, as direct sunlight is crucial!)
How to Remove Stains from Plastic Cutting Boards
You will need:
- half a lemon*
- Stained cutting board
*Note: You can also use Lemon essential oil If you have it handy! Stir 5-10 drops of lemon oil into 1/4 cup of water, then pour the mixture onto the sponge. Use a saturated sponge to wipe the lemon solution on the cutting board.
Directions:
Squeeze the juice of half a lemon onto your stained cutting board. Use the lemon peel to spread the juice so it covers the stain, and work the juice into the nooks and crannies of the cutting board’s surface.
Take the cutting board outside and set it up where it can dry out in the sun! 🙂
Let it sit for several hours or better until the sun goes down. Then bring your cutting board inside and wash it in soapy water.
The stain should be completely gone, or nearly so! You can repeat the process if you want to remove those last remnants of stain.
related to: How to clean and care for your butcher block
So forget about expensive detergents and cleaners for those tough cutting board stains and use lemons instead! This is the easiest and most cost-effective way to restore your hard-working cutting boards to their former glory!
Do you have a favorite tip for cleaning stained plastic?
