How to maintain your self sealing cutting mat

Hi all,

I found this tip posted on the facebook group page of PERI, the home to our Indonesian friends and their forum.

Quote:

Did you know we are meant to moisturise our cutting boards? Well I certainly didn't. To keep them 'self healing" you are supposed to wet them every 6-8 weeks. Even as a retailer I had never been told this. Tonight I have filled the bath with cold water and put all my mats in for a soak. They were quite dirty as well by the look of the water. After their soak just dry them. Never use hot water as you will warp the mat and render is unusable. After their initial bath you can keep them moist by laying a damp towel over you mat for a night once every couple of months. It makes sense actually, the mats are advertised as self healing but if we don't add water they will get brittle and dull our blades and our blades will score lines in the mats causing even more grief for our blades.The lady that gave the talk had had her mat for over 20 years and it still looked almost new. Even more astonishing was that she had not had to replace her blade in over 2 years....you saw correctly, 2 years.

There is another tip about how she was able to use the same blade for two years, mentioned a bit later in the tip, I will try to track that down, and share with the forum

Rick