No one has mentioned this yet and you may want to give this some heavy
consideration. I work with Ipe quite often and your findings are correct.
BUT, TRY this for yourself. When Ipe is cut you end up with a brown saw
dust and a yellowy green powdery dust. This dust reacts with salt and some
mild citric acids. Basically if you get the dust on your sweaty hands the
dust will turn BLOOD RED. Using citrus based blade cleaners will also turn
this powder BLOOD RED.
Now with that in mind, many of the foods that you prepare on this surface
will probably react with the top and make the top and or some of your foods
turn BLOOD RED.