I recently made a Black Walnut cutting board, which I finished with pure mineral oil. A few years ago, I was gifted a cutting board of an unknown type of wood (attached), and after finishing my own cutting board, I decided to add a little oil to this old cutting board too, to give it some new life. When I apply mineral oil to the board that I made, my rag comes up clean, but when I apply it to this old board, it leaves a strange, brown residue on my rag (attached). Does anyone have any idea what this residue might be? Is it just a quality of whatever type of wood this is? Is it food safe?
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Is it just residue from the food you have cut on the board in the past? The oil is also a solvent for hydrophobic substances, which are hard to remove with water.
If, like me, you just rinse your cutting board and use little or no soap, a little residue might be expected.
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