SMACK! Reviews: PaperStone & Epicurean cutting boards

I'm trying to reduce the amount of plastic in my life. Some of it's non-negotiable, like my appliances and my vehicle, and some of it I can't control, like nearly all the packaging of everything, but some of it I can kick to the curb.

The kitchen's a great place to start. About a month ago I wrote this post about my cutlery and the Boos Block maple cutting board that I decided was a good investment. Since then I've been on the prowl for new cutting boards, checking out what looks good to replace my cheap plastic ones.

This is by no means a new pursuit; Beth Terry over at My Plastic Free Life wrote about this very thing back in 2007. And you know what? Not a whole lot has changed in 6 years. 

My local HomeGoods had a decent selection of boards from Epicurean and PaperStone boards. I hadn't yet read Beth's post, so I bought into the idea of a dishwasher-safe product that was made from recycled paper and decided to give each one a try. 

(Remember that we don't grade things anymore here at SMACK! but I will stay true to my opinionated, judgmental roots to give you the dish. Here we go.)

Epicurean has been around for about 10 years, making cutting boards and other food prep tools for residential and commercial kitchens. They market their home kitchen items as sustainably sourced, made in the USA. Here's some other language from the website:

"Our signature materials is made with multiple layers of Forest stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood fibers, compressed with a food-safe resign. We also have introduced a line of Eco Plastic products that utilize 100% post-consumer recycled milk jugs. All of our products are made in the USA."

I like that the company has found a use for old milk jugs, but the fact that they've added plastic cutting boards to their product lineup feels like selling out to me. I thought the whole point was to make professional-grade tools for the home cook using natural materials?

Anyway, I picked up a non-slip board in natural with removable silicone corners. I'm thinking it's an older version, since I didn't see the exact one on the website, but no matter. The size and heft of the board are nice; easy to lift and move around the kitchen, whether for food transfer or during cleanup. The board is smooth and does seemingly well under a sharp knife. The board will take scratches (my knives are freshly sharpened) but they aren't super noticeable, perhaps because it's a solid material (as opposed to veneers). 

The same more or less goes for the PaperStone Yellowstone Gripper board that I picked out, this one a smaller size (like a cheese board) in a darker "Pine Cone" brown. Instead of silicone corners, PaperStone uses rubberized feet. The board would be reversible, for use on both sides, if not for the really annoying sticker that won't come off! 

Seriously, it's going to take a lot of elbow grease to get this thing off. Again, I'm thinking it's because the board has probably been sitting in a warehouse somewhere for years upon years, giving the adhesive time to really set. I can't believe PaperStone would purposefully label a product that renders half of it useless. (Perhaps not. Apparently there are a slew of complaints on Amazon about the sticker.)

PaperStone markets its boards similarly to Epicurean: recycled materials, FSC certified, petroleum-free. I thought the petro-free was a good choice, until I read some of the more informative comments in Beth Terry's post. In super fine print, PaperStone divulges that the boards are made with engineered phenolic resins. A quick Google or Wikipedia search will point you to the fact that phenolic resins are actually formaldehyde-based. Yuk.

All in all, I like my wood-fiber cutting boards. I like the idea of them, I like how they work, I like the low maintenance. But the presence of formaldehyde is disconcerting. My search for chemical-free prep surface clearly isn't over.

Back to the drawing board,
Jazzy