How To Use a Fruit Knife
A fruit knife is always a compact and maneuverable blade, perfect for solving various tasks, from simple cleaning and cutting to creating complex shapes using carving techniques. The most popular Japanese Damascus Chef knifes set model is a multi-functional knife with a straight or concave blade and a short handle.
Specific features
Inexperienced cooks often use utility knives, including those used for cutting and peeling fruit. Most of the time, a utility knife is used for this. However, the result of their work is not always satisfactory, because many fruits have strong skin, but a soft and juicy pulp. By pressing too hard on the surface or using a blade with a poorly formed edge or large sharpening angle, there is a greater risk of “crushing” the meat and “tearing” the pieces. And some, in such pieces, may not be eligible to partake in sumptuous fruit salads, desserts, and cuts. The fruit knife is highly skilled and has special features:
Compactness
The blade length is usually no more than 10 cm, and the handle is designed for a small palm.
Presence of a safety stop at the base of the bed.
Otherwise, due to the small size and effort required during operation, the index finger may slip and the cook will be cut. A highly specialized knife design provides such protection against injury.
Very nice blade.
The thinner the cutting edge, the easier it will penetrate the pulp and the easier it will be to peel or slice the fruit. A small two-way sharpening angle also helps to narrow the part, but only on Japanese models, it is minimal – only 15 degrees.
Blade hardness
The hardness of the blade makes the soft knife “run” when peeling the fruit and the surface is uneven and notched. To prevent this, leading manufacturers use high-hardness steel and zirconium oxide ceramics as blade materials. Such knives do not lose their maneuverability while cutting more precisely.
Narrow and pointed toes
This part of the blade is especially important for a paring knife. With its help, it is easy to cut the holes, eyes, and seeds of the insect, remove the skin and perform other manipulations.
Because of the similarity in texture to many fruits, a fruit peeler is also commonly used to work with small vegetables and root vegetables.
Types of fruit knives
For home cooking, a standard fruit tool is suitable: it looks like a small utility knife, but the blade may be shorter in relation to the handle and its shape may be concave. Gourmet chefs and professional chefs, who often work with fruits of different sizes, textures, and densities, may have a whole set of highly specialized tools at their disposal. For example, categories such as:
Paring knife
with a serrated blade (the best option for peeling tomatoes, mangoes, and other juicy fruits with thick skin);
Carving Knife
With these, you can cut spiral pieces, “flowers” and other oddly shaped pieces of fruit pulp.
Cavity Cutter
Designed to remove cores from apples.
Knife for watermelon
A watermelon knife isn’t a knife at all, but a specially shaped tool that scoops out chunks of juicy pulp evenly.
How to use a fruit knife
Depending on the type of fruit, cleaning and cutting techniques can vary greatly. Concave blade models are best for peeling round fruits (apples, pears, kiwi). With this, it is possible to cut the skin thin and smooth, with minimal loss of pulp. However, this can also be done with a straight blade knife. The center of the knife is placed on the fruit, the thumb rests on the product, and the remaining fingers of the palm are wrapped around the handle. The movement of the knife is done in a circle, the skin is removed in a spiral. If necessary, during cleaning, the tip of the knife removes defects – wormholes, eyes.
- To remove thick skin (from a lemon, for example), press the blade under the skin
- The fruit is cut in half to remove the seeds or core (mango, apple, avocado), then the core is cut out with a knife.
To cut the fruit on the board, a knife with a straight blade is suitable. The fruit is placed on the cutting board, under the center of the knife. Cutting occurs with a standard swinging motion of the hand in a “back and forth” direction. Depending on the weight, holding the fruit in your hand, you can cut it with a knife with a concave blade. But the slices can be sloppy and of different sizes.
Small juicy fruits with delicate skin and berries are easy to cut with the tip of a knife. It excels in delicate tasks like de-hugging strawberries, seeding jalapeño peppers, halving large grapes, etc.
Selection Tips
For a fruit knife to become a real helper in the kitchen and to maintain excellent performance for a long time. You should prefer a product with the following features:
- High carbon steel or zirconium ceramic blade. These are materials that are distinguished by high hardness. And the ability to maintain sharpness for a long time without repeated sharpening.
- The handles are preferably made of wood, metal, or plastic. These materials are hygroscopic and are not subject to destruction even under the influence of fruit acids and moisture. The surface should have a non-slip coating.
- The blade shank runs the entire length of the handle. These designs are the most durable and balanced.
- Quality Assurance. Choose products from reputable manufacturers who care about their reputation and produce quality cookware.
Don’t forget to look after your fruit knives:
high-quality knives should be kept separate from other cutlery, hand washed, and dried. It is also unacceptable to use fruit knives for other purposes, for example, to open cans or crack nuts. Ceramic blades are particularly sensitive to mechanical shock. A delicate attitude and respect for use and storage recommendations are the keys to the long life of a professional tool.
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