plastic vs. wooden stirring stick

"mark thomas" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@golden.net:

Wood is a lot more porous (however you spell that) and could have lots of bacteria etc. lurking where you can't wash them off. If you're stirring boiling wort it probably doesn't matter.

peter

I always use a wooden paddle to stir while boiling, but then switch to the plastic spoon to stir while chilling and for whirlpooling. Don't want to risk using the paddle after the boil.

Hi

I remember reading somewhere some time ago that in cooking, wooden chopping boards are more hygienic than plastic. Trying to confirm this, I found the following article taken from "The New York Times" regarding tests carried out by the University of Wisconsin's Food Research Institute.

Quote:-

"The scientists, Dean O.Cliver and Nese O. Ak, stumbled upon the finding while seeking ways to decontaminate wooden boards and make them as "safe" as plastic. Much to their surprise, they found that when boards were purposely contaminated with organisms like Salmonella, Listeria and E.coli that are common causes of food poisoning, 99.9 percent of the bacteria died off within three minutes on the wooden boards, while none died on the plastic ones.

When contaminated boards were left unwashed overnight at room temperature, bacterial count, increased on the plastic, but none of the organisms could be recovered from the wooden boards the next morning.

The researchers tested boards made from seven different species of trees and four types of plastic and found similar results: wood was safer than plastic, regardless of the materials used. Thus far, however, the researchers have been unable to isolate the agents in wood that make it so inhospitable to bacteria."

OK, we are talking wooden chopping boards used in cookery here NOT wooden spoons used for brewing, but presumably the same thing holds good.

Regards

KGB

"KGB" (KGB) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@nntp.dsl.pipex.com:

That's rather a good point, I'd forgotten about that. Though it's worth noting that a plastic stirrer should be hard plastic that you take care no to scratch. Unlike the plastic cutting boards that are designed to be a bit softer and easier on your knives. That should mean there's little room for anything to cling on/avoid the sanitizer. But if wood kills anything infectious quickly, that's better. Anyone care to guess at whether it could be expected to kill wild yeasts?

peter

Thanks for this! I remember reading not long ago that wood absorbs bacteria but doesn't release it. Apparently the organisms get trapped in the wood's cells.

Should it matter all that much if it doesn't kill wild yeast? When you pitch your yeast you're probably adding billions of lively viable cells, do a few thousand wild ones matter? Wood is probably OK.

Unless they are genetically engineering the yeast we buy they are all wild in some sense of the word.

I bought a 22" SS spoon at a restaurant supply house for ~$5. I won't own a plastic cutting board, too dangerous. (but an excellent source of plastic for all kinds of tinkering)

thank you i thought this was gonna be a site of people getting e coli, and rinsing the wood board off and making supper again.

For plastic, thing is not to clean in boling water as it makes microscopic cracks. Unlike wood, it does not have a natural antiseptic,

Hence dont clean your plastic vat with boiling water

To back this up, I clean my vat with boilnig water only as I view cleaning agent residue as more detrimental than bugs, but I do notice that my vat becomes harder to clean. When new, the crap slids off.

Stephen