A Beginner’s Guide to Cutting Vegetables and Fruits Safely
Cutting vegetables and fruits safely relies on the grip and the surface. Having a high-quality knife, chopper, or cutter also helps. Below are four tips people must implement if they wish to avoid unanticipated mishaps while cooking and meal prepping. Please check them out right now.
Make Sure the Chopping Board isn’t Slipping
The experts providing the best fruit and vegetable cutter said one must first make sure their chopping board is not going anywhere. A dancing chopping board creates an unsteady surface and causes accidents.
Some chopping boards are equipped with rubber feet, which compel them to stay in one place. But if a person has purchased a board without rubber feet and if he/she is planning on using it on top of a slippery countertop, he/she must arrange reinforcements.
Put a rubber mat or a damp towel beneath the chopping board. Doing so prevents the board from slipping.
Try Claw Grip
Claw grip is the easiest technique to stabilize the items while chopping. It also protects the fingers.
People must take all the fingers of their guiding or non-dominant hand and make a claw. They must press their fingertips and tips of their nails to a certain extent into the item. This holds the item stable and keeps the fingers safe in case the knife suddenly slips.
When the pieces of the item get smaller, one must tuck or curl their fingertips. It lets you have a grip on whatever remains.
Keep the Cutters, Choppers, and Knives Sharp
If one exerts too much effort to slice up the fruits and vegetables, they need to change their cutter immediately. A sharp fruit and vegetable cutter easily cut through all items without inflicting any damage.
Although it may sound counterintuitive, dull knives are more dangerous than sharp ones. A dull knife needs excessive pressure, which increases the chances of slipping. People may lose their grip and cut themselves.
Take the knives, cutters, and choppers to a top-notch sharpener company. The following DIY tricks also work:
- Rub against a diamond stone or whetstone
- Rub against a coffee mug
- Rub against a honing rod made of stainless steel
Keep the Cut Side in a Downward Direction
Apart from keeping the chopping board stable, one must make sure the ingredients they are chopping are stable too.
Think about onions. Onion is an integral part of almost all recipes. It is round in shape and, therefore, difficult to cut. Nobody wants to battle with onions.
It will be quite helpful to first cut the onion into two parts. Keep the cut side down before chopping it. From this point, the vegetable becomes quite easy to handle. With most fruits and vegetables, as long as one masters the claw grip and creates a steady chopping surface, they will be fine.
Proper chopping and gripping methods do not help one with the tears if they are working on onions, though.
People can practice their fruit and vegetable cutting skills by preparing the below-mentioned recipes:
- Caramelized onion salsa
- Baked root vegetables with kale and tomatoes
- French onion soup
- Yukon gold potato and sweet potato roast
- Ratatouille
Beware! There will be lots of chopping!