{"id":145,"date":"2013-11-21T08:16:10","date_gmt":"2013-11-21T06:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.radioislam.org.za\/wordpress\/2013\/11\/21\/tips-to-care-for-kitchen-knives\/"},"modified":"2013-11-21T08:16:10","modified_gmt":"2013-11-21T06:16:10","slug":"tips-to-care-for-kitchen-knives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/tips-to-care-for-kitchen-knives\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips to care for kitchen knives"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A properly cared for kitchen knife will last for years and provide a perfect cut every time. It is wise to have them sharpened a few times a year.<\/p>\n

It is not that difficult to clean cutlery and knives by hand in a sink of hot soapy water but it does require a bit of thought and effort. Soaking items is not a good idea for several reasons. Soaking may cause damage or discoloration to cutlery items, especially wooden handles on knives. Leaving the items in water for extended times or leaving them damp instead of drying them may lead to discoloration as well. It is also dangerous to have a sharp knife concealed by sudsy water as you may forget about it until you slice your hand or finger on it. Never put stainless steel cutlery in a dishwasher with silver or silver-plated items. <\/p>\n

It is a good idea to keep knives in a storage block, box, or tray. This will reduce injuries and help protect the knives from nicks or dulling that may occur if they are banged around with other items thrown together loosely in a drawer. Many quality knife sets come with a storage accessory but if not they can be purchased separately in a variety of styles, wood types and price ranges. Some storage pieces are for a variety of items and some are designated for particular pieces. Shop around to see what items may best fill your specific needs. <\/p>\n

Weather you're indoors using your chef knives and kitchen knife set or outdoors using your camping knives or fillet knife, you need to make sure that the blade lands on a relatively soft surface such as wood or plastic rather than on a hard surface such as metal or ceramic. Constant striking on a hard surface will dull the blade rapidly and dramatically hinder your knife's performance even if you're using hard ceramic knives. Although it may be tempting at times, refrain from using your cooking knives for prying, as a screwdriver, as a chisel, or for anything kitchen cutlery was not intended. It is also not recommended to use the back or side of your kitchen cutlery as hammering instruments unless it is specifically designed to handle that task. Doing so may cause the pins, springs, or handle to loosen or even break – <\/p>\n

Keeping knives sharp is important for the safety and efficiency of your knives. This will prevent damage and injury as well. If the knife is dull, a person may need to use more force while cutting with it. In doing so the knife may slip and be damaged, broken or it may even cause an injury. Knives may be professionally sharpened or you may wish to purchase one of several home sharpening devices that are on the market.<\/p><\/div>\n

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 How to Care for Your Kitchen Knives?<\/strong><\/u><\/div>\n
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Tip 1: Keep Knives Clean At All Times<\/strong>
For hygiene and safety reasons, always wash, dry, and store the knife after every use. Try not to leave it lying around (especially in the sink), thinking that you’ll do the cleaning later. First, leaving a knife lying around is dangerous. Secondly, you risk staining the knife because certain food acids can corrode the knife when left unwashed.<\/p>\n

How should you wash your knives? Simply wet a clean cloth and apply some liquid detergent. Place the blade flatly on the cloth and wipe both sides with the cloth. Then, place it under running water (preferably hot water). This is a much safer method compared to washing it in a sink because suds may prevent you from seeing the blade clearly (and you can cut yourself).
Remember that “stainless steel” is exactly what the name implies- STAIN-LESS steel. It’s not stain proof. Therefore, your knife may rust slightly after some time (yes, even expensive ones). Don’t fret! It’s easy to get rid of the rust and make it feel brand new. All you got to do is buy and chop an onion using the rusty part. As the rust loosens, continuous chopping removes the rust completely. I usually need a whole onion to do the job.<\/p>\n

Tip 2: Don’t Use It to Cut Non-Food Items<\/strong>
Many people don’t realize but you shouldn’t use kitchen knives to cut non-food items (i.e. plastic wrapper, labels, aluminum foils). Also, don’t use the knife as a chisel, hammer, or screwdriver. The rule of thumb is to not use the knife for any other task besides what it’s meant for; which is cutting food! You risk of blunting the edges and breaking the blade\/handle. Not to mention it’s also dangerous because mishandling can cause grievous hurt.<\/p>\n

Tip 3: Hone\/Sharpen Knives Regularly<\/strong>
Sometimes, a knife set comes with a steel (the metal rod that is clearly not a knife) and you should use it to hone your knife every once awhile to keep it in tip-top condition. If you wait until it’s blunt, you’ll take a longer time and effort to make it sharp again. A sharp knife also helps to preserve the taste of food and much safer to use because you don’t have to strain your wrist and apply extra pressure in the cutting process.
As you hone the knife, remember that the knife should be moving (not the steel) and only the edges should touch the steel. If honing doesn’t give you good results, then you should consider sharpening your knife on a whetstone. Consider getting a Japanese whetstone because it gives superior results.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A properly cared for kitchen knife will last for years and provide a perfect cut every time. It is wise to have them sharpened a few times a year. It is not that difficult to clean cutlery and knives by hand in a sink of hot soapy water but it does require a bit of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[252,328,388],"class_list":["post-145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kitchen-tips","tag-handy-hints","tag-kitchen-tips","tag-tips-to-care-for-kitchen-knives"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hints-and-tips.png?fit=400%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-2l","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 21:56:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}