Do you do a lot of cooking in the kitchen?

Odds are you probably use a knife every day to cut, slice, and dice a variety of ingredients in the foods you make. But did you know there are actually benefits to keeping your knives sharp for cutting and preparing food? While a sharp knife might seem more dangerous than one that is slightly dulled, this is actually often times the opposite. With a dull knife, you must exert much more force to get a proper cut. This can make you unnecessarily careless, and could cause you to exert too much force and accidentally cut yourself or do harm to yourself in some other way. The sharper the knife, the less force you’ll have to apply, and the more careful you’ll be when handling it.

Besides safety, a sharp knife will allow you to make cuts with higher precision. If you’re preparing a fancy meal for an esteemed guest, you do not want to serve food that has been sloppily hacked together with a dull blade you’ve had for years. With precise cuts from a sharp knife, your food will look picture perfect, and you will have an easier time making extravagant meals that impress your friends and acquaintances. On top of that, there’s likely to be fewer cleanups when you’re making cleaner cuts! You also do not crush or bruise the ingredients,which can effect the flavour and texture of the final product. the best way to gauge just how good a knife is cutting, test it out on an onion. You should not have an over powering smell coming of the onion if your knife is sharp, cause its not bruising the onion, releasing its oils. Also have a listen, there should not be a lot of noise when you chop, if there is you are crushing the item in question. 

But how do you maintain the sharpness of your knives? Well, you have a variety of options. You could go with the old fashion whetstone or a similar manual sharpening tool, or use an electric sharpener. There are benefits to both, but this will mostly come down to your budget. Whetstones are generally very cheap and disposable, while electric sharpeners last a long time, but are quite an investment. All in all, you should be able to tell now that it’s important to use a sharp knife in all your cooking endeavors. It’s cleaner, safer, and much more precise than using a dull old blade that’s been in your kitchen drawer for ten years! Just remember to exercise proper care when handling a sharp knife and you’ll be on your way to more stylish and effective slicing and dicing!