You may have a cheese knife at home, but you may not realize what each of the blades was designed to do. In addition, each cheese knife type has a function to improve the user experience, just as a chef will use numerous sorts of knives during the day to increase their efficiency. Therefore, we created a guide and a printable cheese knives resource to assist you in choosing the right blade for the cheeses you’ll be serving.
Why Do Cheese Knives Have Holes In?
While a knife may appear to be a simple tool, countless varieties have been developed over time. Some blades are even made specifically for specific tasks, such as cutting cheese. You’ve probably noticed that some cheese knives have holes in them if you’ve ever investigated buying one or just seen one at a friend’s place. Have you ever pondered why this is the case? We did some research to come up with a solution for you.
When slicing cheese, cheese knives feature holes to keep the cheese and knife from adhering together.
Do you need a knife like this?
This response necessitates considerable explanation, but in a nutshell, the answer is no. Cutting cheese does not require the use of a cheese knife. However, if you plan on chopping a lot of cheese or want the fastest and best tool for the job, a cheese knife is a good investment.
What you’re doing in the kitchen is also a factor. For example, you’ll almost certainly need a cheese knife if you work in a restaurant because you’ll be using it all day. Remember that using a cheese knife will assist you in retaining the shape of the cheese you’re slicing. If you use a standard blade with no holes and the cheese sticks to the knife, you may shatter the cheese in the process of removing it, and this can spoil the dish you’re attempting to prepare and cost you add cheese.
You probably don’t need a cheese knife if you’re cooking at home, but they’re handy to have.
A cheese knife resembles a conventional knife except for a few distinguishing features. A cheese knife, for example, usually has holes that are regularly spaced across the blade, either in a line or in some other structured arrangement. In addition, the perforations aren’t always round. Instead, they can be squares or any different shape, as their sole purpose is to keep the cheese from sticking.
The tip of the blade is another distinguishing feature of cheese knives. It isn’t a tip at all, and it frequently resembles a two-pronged fork. This is where you stick the cheese to pick it up. These extra pleasures aim to keep you from touching the cheese and instead rely on the knife to perform the heavy lifting.
What Type of Knife Is Best for Cheese?
Chisel Knife
This is a broad, flat knife with a sharp top edge. It’s great for breaking off bits of softer, crumbly cheeses like gorgonzola or blue cheese and then spreading them out over the big flat surface. This knife can also cut larger, thicker, semi-soft cheeses such as provolone into smaller pieces.
Cheese Fork
Although this isn’t exactly a knife, it’s frequently found in cheese knife sets and on cheese boards. The fork helps hold harder cheeses in place while cutting with another utensil, such as manchego. I usually put a couple of them on the board near any charcuterie or olives that guests may pick up with a puncture of the cheese fork.
Spreader
This is one of the cheese knives I use the most, and it’s used for just what it says: spreading cheese. Serve with soft, spreadable cheese, such as goat or Boursin. I also use it to make creamier Brie and Camembert cheeses.
Cleaver
I don’t always use a cheese cleaver on my boards because it can be too large for a tiny cheese plate. However, the wide rectangular blade is designed for cutting hard or semi-hard cheeses, such as cheddar or pepper jack, and may also be used to cube certain cheeses.
Parmesan Knife
Spade knife, heart knife, pear knife, and almond knife are just some of the names for this knife. Whatever you name it, the pointy tip helps chip away at a hard cheese like… you got it, Parmesan cheese. Because of its design, I find this to be an adaptable knife, and I use it with practically any cheese on my boards.
Cheese Plane
A cheese plane is used to slice semi-soft cheeses like swiss, Havarti, and fontina into thinner slices.
Soft Cheese Knife
This is a great, multipurpose cheese knife, also known as a pronged or fork-tipped spear. This is one of our favorites and one of my most-used. The thin blade is great for softer cheeses, and perforations on edge are sometimes seen to prevent sticking with cheeses like camembert and brie. The fork-pronged tip comes in handy when serving sliced portions of harder cheeses.
Plane Knife
Because it’s sharp on the tip and sides, this cheese knife works well with semi-firm cheeses like pepper jack, gouda, and cheddar cheese. In addition, you can use the abrupt long end to finish cutting hard cheeses after pressing the top into them.
Other cheese tools aren’t necessary knives:
Cheese Wire
A cheese wire, sometimes known as a bowing knife, is used to cut soft cheeses without crushing them or spreading them too thinly. They’re frequently shaped like a bow or attached to a cheese board with a wire indent. The wire would be slowly lowered through the cheese, leaving a clean slice in the process.
Cheese Rind Cutter
A rind cutter is a tool with a sharp tip used to score a hard cheese’s rind, making it simpler to open. To use a rind cutter, pierce one edge of the rind and pull it cleanly across the surface.
Cheese Grater
A cheese grater is ideal for slicing cheese into shreds. When a block of cheese is forced into the grooves, they will often have razors on more than one side to produce varying size shreds. A cheese grater can also be used to shred a variety of other foods.
The main picture is from Marco Verch Professional Photographer.
