Every housewife, and especially every cook, has her own assortment of knives used for cutting food and preparing dishes. A special knife for bread, fish, meat, vegetables, etc.
And if a meat cleaver can cut all meat products, then knives for vegetables and fruits have a huge number of different modifications.
Content
- Features of knives for peeling vegetables
- Types of Vegetable Knives
- Classic Kitchen Paring Knife
- Knife with a floating blade for peeling vegetables and fruits
- Utility knife
- How to Use Vegetable and Fruit Knives
- How to Choose a Quality Knife for Processing Vegetables
- List of popular knife manufacturers
- VIDEO: Universal knife for vegetables and fruits.
Features of knives for peeling vegetables
From all this diversity, only three features can be distinguished.
- Compact size.
Almost all knives for cutting vegetables and fruits have a small working blade size – no more than 10 cm.
- Very thin and sharp blade.
Processing vegetables and fruits does not require any effort, so the blades for them are made of thin steel for quick movement and maneuverability.
- A huge number of varieties.
Humanity has invented its own knife for almost every vegetable or fruit. In addition, there are a huge number of universal modifications that are also considered vegetable. Only practice will help to understand their quality, and most importantly, the need for use.
Types of Vegetable Knives
Let's try to arrange the entire range of vegetable knives into several groups.
- Classic short vegetable knife.
Made with a curved blade.
- Vegetable peeler with floating blade.
Equipped with a rotating double-sided blade.
- Universal kitchen knife.
A small kitchen knife suitable for both vegetables and fruits, as well as for cutting prepared foods: meat, fish, etc.
- Santoku.
A sharp Japanese blade with a wide edge.
- Devices for cutting out the core or cavity.
Round or conical types of blades designed for removing unwanted cores from apples, pineapples, tomatoes, etc.
- Specialized types of knives.
They are intended exclusively for cutting one or two types of vegetables or fruits and are completely unsuitable for others. For example, for peeling pineapple, for cutting apples, for watermelon, etc.
Classic Kitchen Paring Knife
Literally translated from English - a knife for removing skin. It has a short curved blade like a sickle from 3 to 10 cm made of thin steel or ceramics. It ends with a thin sharp tip like a blade, ideal for piercing. They are made with both a regular edge and a serrated edge.
Knife with a floating blade for peeling vegetables and fruits
In its configuration, it resembles a razor with a wide blade. The floating head consists of two thin and sharp blades, located parallel to each other with sharp edges inward. Products with horizontal, vertical and inclined placement of the floating head are manufactured.
Ideal for peeling root vegetables: potatoes, carrots, daikon and others.
Also, many chefs use them for the finest slicing of vegetables and fruits: cucumbers, zucchini, mango, etc.
Utility knife
You don't have to buy a special knife to process and chop vegetables. A universal kitchen knife will do. Equipped with a short blade from 8 to 15 cm, it will cope with almost any job. Its tip is made of thin material, which allows you to peel vegetables and fruits without damaging or crushing them.
How to Use Vegetable and Fruit Knives
To ensure that knives last a long time, there are several nuances when using them.
They should only be used for their intended purpose. Wash and clean after each use.
Store each blade separately, avoiding contact with other kitchen utensils. Also, during storage and transportation, the blade should not come into contact with anything.
Do not cut on hard surfaces: glass, porcelain, metal. Avoid impacts and strong pressure.
Hold the product correctly during work so that the edge does not bend and does not work on the break.
How to Choose a Quality Knife for Processing Vegetables
When choosing a quality product, it is important to pay attention to the following.
Lever
Handles are usually made of plastic, wood or metal. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. Metal handles make the product heavier, which means the knife may not be very comfortable for people accustomed to light tools.
Wooden handles may crack over time. Wood absorbs moisture strongly, so such devices cannot be washed in a dishwasher. It is advisable not to wash the wooden handle, but only wipe it with a damp cloth.
The plastic handle is more comfortable and practical than previous models. It does not make the product heavier and fits comfortably in the hand.
A well-made knife has a metal part that extends to the end of the handle, thus achieving the ideal balance of the product, making it less prone to deformation and lasting longer.
The most important thing when choosing a handle is its ergonomics. It should fit comfortably in the hand without causing discomfort to the person. It should not dangle or slip.
Blade
This is the basis of the entire product, so it should be given special attention. High-quality stainless steel is used in production with an admixture of other elements to give strength to the material and sharpness to the finished product.
Before buying, you need to check the blade surface and its edge. They should be perfectly smooth, without nicks, grooves, abrasions, roughness and other defects. Also, there should be no stains or streaks on the edge.
Ceramic knives are a good addition to the basic set of metal products. Their blades remain sharp for a long time, but they are not suitable for some types of kitchen work. They are also quite fragile and prone to chipping under heavy loads or when dropped. When choosing ceramic utensils, give preference to black blades, they are more reliable and durable.
Sharpening
A quality new knife should be sharp. Therefore, you should pay attention to the edge of the blade or the edge. It should be straight, shiny and very sharp. Ideally, the blade should be sharpened on both sides. If sharpening was done with a laser, then perpendicular matte marks will be visible on the blade. This will allow it to remain sharp much longer.
Additional features: serrated tip, self-sharpening, handle with hanging hole and other useful tricks.
List of popular knife manufacturers
As in any industry, the production of kitchen knives has its own popular brands.
- German: Boker, Fissler, Gude, Pohl Force, Victorinox, Wuesthof, Zwilling.
- Domestic: Kizlyar, Russian Bulat, Vityaz, Zlatoust.
- Japanese: Global, Kanetsugu, Kasumi, Masahiro, Samura.
For example, Victorinox produces a fairly large range of kitchen knives, including those for peeling vegetables and fruits. Everyone will definitely find the best option for themselves.
