Healthy Kitchen Utensils – Knives

Knives Are Essential Utensils In The Healthy Kitchen

There are all kinds of useful utensils to make cooking easier. Kitchen stores and aisles for kitchenware in other retail stores have a bewildering array of items used in cooking. Some kitchen utensils are for a very specific task and may not be used very often, while others are versatile and used almost every day.

Knives Are Needed Daily

If you do much cooking at all, you’ll use not one, but several kinds of knives. Each of these kitchen utensils has a specific function, like chopping, slicing, or filleting food.

However, all knives have pretty much the same parts, as shown in the picture below.

The blade is pretty self-explanatory. It’s the most important part of the knife, and the quality of the blade determines how well the knife cuts. Good quality blades make it much easy to do food preparation for cooking.

The bolster is part between the blade and the handle. Obviously, it needs to hold the blade securely to the handle. It’s also worth noting, however, that there is an advantage to having one that is not the full width of the end of the blade. It makes it easier to sharpen the full length of the blade if the bolster doesn’t get in the way.

Running through the bolster and handle is the tang. It’s an extension of the blade. The tang not only provides a way to attach the handle, but it helps give the knife a good balance. It also strengthens the knife and makes it more durable. The higher quality knives have a tang that runs the full length of the handle, making it strong and well-balanced.

Handles encase the tang and give you a hand hold on the knife. They are made of many different materials, including wood, metal, or various types of plastic. The handle should be sturdy, and easy to hold.

Types of Kitchen Knives

This should give you some idea on what to look for when buying a good knife. As to which knives to buy, there is a wide selection available: Some of these include:

• Boning Knife
• Butter Knife
• Cheese Knife
• Chef’s Knife
• Cleaver
• Deli Knife
• Filet Knife
• Frozen Food Knife
• Mincing Knife
• Paring Knife
• Sandwich Knife
• Serrated Knife
• Slicing-Carving Knife
• Steak
• Utility

There are also specialty knives for chestnuts, clams, deveining, grapefruits, lettuce and oysters, plus specialty knives for different types of cuisines such as Japanese and Asian.

Having good kitchen knives is essential to the healthy kitchen, but you don't have to buy every kind available!

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