Unlike plastic cutting boards, wooden cutting boards need to be dealt with differently to preserve their quality. Find out quick and easy ways to clean and to remove stains from wooden cutting boards.

When I'm in the kitchen, my cutting board is one of my best friends. I use a large, sharp knife and quickly (but carefully) chop my way through my onions, celery, potatoes or peppers. However, I have a good friend who prefers to ignore the cutting board for everything of the large job, instead using her fingers and a small paring knife to make fruit slices, potato wedges and carrot rings.

I tend to think of that 'in hand' slicing as a kitchen technique that comes from an earlier era. I can imagine my Auntie Tunkel standing in her tiny rowhouse kitchen, slicing root vegetables directly into a roasting pan, using a callused thumb to catch the blade on the other side of the turnip or rutabaga. My own mother is somewhere in between, having used the same old cutting board for so many years that she's worn it thin in the middle, nothing like my own hurried smash and chop.

Are you a cutting board devotee or an in hand slicer?

This is rather nifty.

We've all used regular cutting boards - wood, plastic - that just sit on our counters. And then there are the really thin ones that roll up and bend so we can push stuff into pans and bowls. But this new one from Bed, Bath & Beyond actually has a handle, and you squeeze the handle to create a chute, which makes dropping food a lot easier. They come in black and white.

Lately, I've had this obsession with cutting boards, whether it's a giant butcher-type block, those colorful silicone mats that are meant to keep food separated for safety reasons, or the "green" cutting boards made of sustainable bamboo.

These wooden cutting boards made from acacia have been laser-engraved with different illustrations that are matched to the grain of the wood on the individual board. That means no two boards are the same! Prior to the engraving process, the designers determine the ideal position for any of the 6 different illustrations, which are a diver, skiing, fishing, the man on the moon, a gardener, and a motorcyclist.

The boards are available from Charles and Marie, $38 for a large board, $20 for a small board.

Alphabet soup is a favorite for many kids, despite the fact that it always seems to look much better than it tastes. And if you taste it after the age of 8? Well, let's just say that the pasta-and-sauce concoction is not meant for adult taste buds. With this alphabet soup cutting board, you can still enjoy the nostalgic look of the soup-like concoction, without having to taste it. It is made of glass, textured on top, and is both stain and odor resistant. It's dishwasher safe, so it is a multipurpose board that can be used for anything.

For a different way to enjoy alphabet spaghetti/soup, check out the giant version at Pimp That Snack!

For years, chefs, food writers and even food scientists have said that cutting boards made of wood will absorb bacteria, and plastic ones will allow bacteria to flourish on the surface, lurking in each tiny cut. Each material has been declared worse in turns. Do plastic cutting boards really harbor more bacteria than wooden ones? Are wooden ones worse?

It looks like the food scientists at Cook's Illustrated have debunked this food myth, because according to their tests, the answer is "no". They collected the used cutting boards of several of their staff members, but found little bacteria on them. The boards, two wooden and two plastic, were then taken to a lab where they were inoculated with one drop of solution containing millions of bacteria. The bacteria were allowed to sit on the boards for 40 minutes, but after washing the boards with hot, soapy water, fewer than 100 bacteria from the original sample remained on each type of board.

While bacteria remained on each board, the amount was small and nearly equal for both materials. This shows that it doesn't matter what the board is made out of, but how you care for it. After each use, particularly if raw meat has touched the board, cleanse it with warm, soapy water. The FDA recommends sanitizing your boards in a solution of 1 tablespoon bleach to 1 gallon water.