A Guide to Cheese Knives
There are a lot of different kinds of cheese knives out there, each with their own purpose and use. It’s equally as important to slice brie with a soft cheese knife as it is to crumble a gouda with a tool that’s meant for a harder texture. Don’t worry cheese sluts, I’m here to help with this guide to cheese knives.
The Essential Guide to Cheese Knives
The way you slice a cheese affects the flavor and texture, so it’s important to use the correct cheese knives to get the perfect cut. But how do you choose the right cheese knife? If you use a thick chef’s knife on a delicate ripe wedge of brie, you might smush its pretty shape. If you use a soft cheese knife on something hard like Parmigiano, you’re going to end up with some really weird looking cuts.
You Don’t Need All of These Knives, But You Do Need Two
The only essentials are a soft cheese knife with a thin blade and a sharp chef’s knife for firmer cheeses. The others are fun and will make you feel badass, but they’re not necessary.
How To Choose The Right Cheese Knife
The texture of the cheese that you’re eating will determine what knife to use. There are a lot of different tools out there: some are for soft cheese, some are for semi-firm bad boys, and some are for those hard, grate-able girls. Below I’ve outlined all of the different knives on the market, each with a link to the Amazon page for some of my favorite knives. If you happen to buy one, a small commission goes to the cheese church AKA into my bank account.
FOR SOFT CHEESE:
Cheese Spreader
This guy looks like a butter knife and he’s great for spreading all your softies onto something crunchy like crackers, baguette, or radishes. Use with butter, ricotta, fresh chèvre, and burrata.
The Cheese Wire
Nothing cuts as clean as a wire. This guy is amazing for slicing small so -ripened cheeses into perfect slices. Use for bries, aged goats like Humboldt Fog, or logs of fresh chèvre.
Off-Set Cheese Knife
Just like the cheese wire, this super skinny blade is great for slicing softies without smashing their pretty little bodies. Use for soft-ripened cheeses like brie and Taleggio, or creamy blues.
The Skeleton Knife
This dude has a ton of holes in the blade to reduce drag and keep the cheese from sticking. Use this cheese knife for softies, semi-firm cheeses, and blues.
For Semi-Firm and Hard Cheese:
Fork-Tipped Knife
He’s a knife and a fork! What a stud. Use this cutie to slice semi-firm babies like young gouda and Havarti, then use that fork-tip to stab a chunk and pick it straight up to your face.
The Cheese Plane
This fancy-looking number is for all those aged cheeses with deep, complex flavors that need a little extra surface area to properly pleasure your palate. Use it to shave razor-thin slices off of Alpine-style cheeses and Gjetost.
The Spear Knife
Big boy blades like this spear knife are for chipping snackable chunks off of crumbly blues or crunchy baddies like aged gouda and Parmigiano.
The Cheese Cleaver
The hefty wide blade on this guy is ideal for slicing semi-firm cheeses like cheddar and colby.
All-Purpose Knife
If you’re going on a picnic or BYO-Cheesing and you only want to bring one knife, use a foldable guy with a pointy tip and thin blade. It will crumble the crunchies, slice the softies, and spread the freshies. Just be sure to wipe off the blade between cheeses lest you cross-contaminate those precious flavors.
The Cheese Curler
This is very clearly not a cheese knife, but it’s the only way to turn small, semi-firm cheeses into perfect blossoms. Use on Tête de Moine and similar cheeses.