The looks of cheese might be so deceptive that it leaves you wondering why you would need different kinds of knives for cutting cheese. We all know that cheese is soft, and cutting it should never be an issue regardless of the type of knife you use. Well, the fact is that despite its softness, cheese cutting is no easy job unless you have the best knife to cut cheese with confidence. However, it might sound surprising but true that because of the softness of cheese, you need to be careful about cutting it with care so that the cheese retains its original and presentable shape. For example, if you use an old paring knife to part with the wedge of the Gouda cheese, you could spoil the cheese more than you can think about. Therefore, it becomes imperative to select the correct knife type that can help achieve your goal.
Varied softness necessitates the use of different types of knives
Making a statement like cheese is soft is only partially true because although most types of cheese are soft to a certain extent, the softness differs between the types of cheese. Camembert or brie has a soft interior and its stickiness to make the cheese cling to the knife. Other types of cheese can have varying degrees of hardness. Some are slightly hard, while others are pretty hard and firm that needs a sharp and heavy knife to cut the slices evenly without damaging the cheese. After all, the cheese slices must be in perfect shape, for which you must ensure that the cheese block remains intact after cutting each piece or cutting out a wedge.
Soft cheese knife
The dull and curved knife is a must-have for all kitchens because soft cheese is the most common type of cheese found in any kitchen. The knife has different names but serves the same purpose of cutting soft cheese perfectly. The knife, which is dull and curved with a broad blade, also has a pair of prongs at the tip to facilitate picking up the cheese slices quickly for serving. Some soft cheese knives have an indent that runs along the length of the blade or several holes of medium size.
Cheddar knife
The Cheddar knife is a cleaver and functions in the same way but of a smaller size. The blade is heavy and broad and sharp enough to deal with cheese rinds, and the knife’s weight aids cutting. The name of the knife indicates its suitability for cutting cheddar and other hard cheeses.
Parmesan knife
The odd-looking cheese knife has an unusually thick and broad blade, sharpened to a point at the end but dull on the sides. This knife is only for cutting extremely hard cheeses. The knife does not slice the cheese but creates crumbs while preserving its crumbly and dry feel.
Chisel knife
The knife features are similar to the Parmesan knife, but the chisel knife does not have a sharp end. The chisel knife is a hybrid of the parmesan knife and cheddar knife as it has the broad frontal blade of the former and the heavy, wide blade of the latter.
