This is what the hole on your chopping board is actually useful for

Making food is one of those inescapable parts of our daily routine that can often take up a significant portion of our waking hours and, while preparing a hearty meal can be enjoyable, sometimes it can be a real chore.

Gaining a greater proficiency in cooking and getting all the right tools can make this process much faster and easier, but most home cooks don't know all of the ways they can best utilise their kitchen equipment, including the humble chopping board.

Everyone has at least one in their kitchen and will likely use it every single day, whether that's for chopping vegetables or grating cheese, and while there is a constant debate about whether wood or plastic is better, most people are unaware about their secret feature.

There are a number of great life hacks around how to best use your chopping board, a common one in professional kitchens is to use a wet cloth or paper towel if your board is slipping while your chop, but did you know that you can use the hole to make your life easier too?

There's nothing more annoying than doing all the prep, only to drop some on the floor or work surface (Getty Stock Image)

While at first glance you might think this hole is only used to hang up a chopping board once you've cleaned it and tidied it away, you can use it to prevent any of your ingredients from tumbling off at the worst moment.

It's all too easy to accidentally swipe some onion or cheese off the side of your chopping board while trying to add it to the meal you are making, but, on many chopping boards, you can actually just push it through the hole.

This prevents it from slipping off the chopping board and onto a work surface or worse, the floor. Chef Lora McLaughlin Peterson recently pointed out this hidden feature on her @lorafied TikTok channel.

She asked in her video: "How many times have you chopped up something only for it [to] land on the counter or worse, the floor, when you’re trying to put it in your bowl, the sink, or compost?”

There are a few life hacks that make using and maintaining your chopping board easier (Getty Stock Image)

Showing herself guiding ingredients into a waiting cooking pot using the hole at the end of her chopping board, Peterson said: “Not only is this handy, it’s actually kind of fun."

Then, while pushing even more produce through the hole, she added: “How great is that? And a slam dunk every time.”

This is not the only major chopping board life hack however. In addition to using a wet paper towel to hold one in place, if yours has gotten dirty and stained, there is a really cheap and easy way to restore it back to its former glory.

Coat your chopping board in coarse salt and then take half of a used lemon and rub it into the salty board. Once the whole thing has been coated, leave it for five minutes before scraping the residue off and giving it a rinse.

The salt works as a cheap abrasive to get off any encrusted food debris, while the citric acid in the lemon juice breaks down fats, gives the chopping board a clean smell, and has mild antibacterial properties.