Cheese knife

A cheese knife is a type of kitchen knife specialized for the cutting of cheese. Different cheeses require different knives, according primarily to hardness; most often "cheese knife" refers to a knife designed for soft cheese.

Soft cheeses require a sharp knife. As these cheeses are often sticky, a cheese knife will be serrated and often have holes to prevent sticking.

Soft cheese knives are designed to deal with the stickiness of soft cheese. When the cheese does not stick to the blade, it allows for pieces of cheese to be presented more attractively, with crisper shapes compared to cheese cut with standard knives.

The blades of cheese knives are usually made of a material such as stainless steel, which is resistant to the stickiness of cheese. Another design feature often found is the presence of holes in the blade to help to prevent the cheese from sticking to it. Some soft cheese knives also include a ridge, which runs vertically near the top of the blade. This helps separate the cheese as it is being sliced. Some cheese knives have a forked end and is used for serving slices of cheese.

Furthermore, the shape is unusual. Most knives have a blade that is wide at the base and tapers to the tip. A cheese knife, on the other hand, is similar to a cleaver in that it starts out thinner at the handle and then gets wider away from the base. Some cheese knives have angled handles to make an easier cut.

The non-sticky characteristics of a cheese knife also makes them useful for cutting other sticky foods, such as cakes, eggs, and pies; compare also egg slicer.

Hard cheeses instead require a tough blade, which will not be damaged by the hard cheese. Exemplary is the distinctive Parmesan cheese knife, which is short, thick, and stubby, like an oyster knife.

Various non-knife devices are used for cutting cheese, such as a wire cheese cutter, which completely avoids adhesion, a cheese slicer, used primarily for thin slices of medium-hard cheeses, used especially in Scandinavia for cutting cheese for sandwiches, and the girolle, used to cut the hard Tête de Moine cheese by scraping.

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Wikipedia