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Home » Blog » Use Ceramic Knives for Food Storage Processing

Use Ceramic Knives for Food Storage Processing

By PreparednessMama on July 2, 2018 * 5 Comments

They cut like butter…

It is food storage processing time and I have a cool new tool to help. I received 4 ceramic knives and a ceramic peeler from EasyLife to try in my prepared kitchen. I think my husband might be more excited than I am!

I'm using my new ceramic knives for food storage processing. First up, tropical fruit mix for smoothies | PreparednessMamaMy set includes a Peeler, a 3″ Paring Knife 4″ Slicing Knife, a 5″ Santoku Knife, a 6″ Chef Knife and an Acrylic Knife Block Holder. If you’ve never used a ceramic knife before there are a few “rules” to learn to protect your investment.

Ceramic Knife Uses

Ceramic knives have became popular because they do not react with certain foods, especially acidic ones, like tomatoes, pineapple and citrus fruits. That means very little oxidation on your fruit when processing food for storage.

  • // No need to sharpen them. With proper care they will last many years in their sharp state.
  • // Easy care, requiring only a quick handwashing with soap and hot water.
  • // Ceramic knives will not corrode in harsh environments.
  • // Better suited for slicing boneless meat, vegetables, fruit and bread.
  • // Non-magnetic, and do not conduct electricity at room temperature.
  • // Ceramic knives are lightweight, weighing less than half of an equivalent metal knife. This reduces fatigue and pain associating with preparing big meals and repetitive cutting.

Ceramic Knife Limitations

I have a bad habit of using my knives to open boxes. It sure does dull them fast! I know you’re not supposed to do that to your knives, but they are just so handy on the counter. I have to learn not to do that with my new ceramic knives. Under certain circumstances they can be fragile and break. There are a few limitations:

  • // The blades may break if dropped on a hard surface.
  • // Ceramic knives are unsuitable for chopping through bones.
  • // Slicing frozen foods, and placing the knives under extremely cold temperatures, are not recommended.
  • // Do not use the knives in applications that may require prying, which may result in chipping (that means no boxes for me!)
  • // Don’t use on foods that may overly flex the blade while cutting. Use your conventional steel knives for carving, prying, boning, and cutting frozen food and cheese. These applications involve twisting and flexing, which require a more flexible material than ceramic.
  • // Ceramic knives cannot be heated to high temperatures, so avoid putting the blade in open flame (ceramic conducts heat.)
  • // Use it with a plastic or wood cutting board. Avoid cutting on marble, stone, glass, plates, or tile.
  • // Avoid turning the blade on its side to smash garlic or other items.

While that may seem like a long list of “don’ts” I feel that ceramic knives are still worth a look. We have been very pleased with our EasyLife set and expect to continue to use it as the food storage processing season continues. See the 1Easylife® – Ceramic Knives Ceramic Knife Set at Amazon.

Make your own tropical fruit mix

My first test is to try my ceramic knives on fresh fruit. We have been making smoothies for breakfast and a 4-pound bag of frozen fruit costs $10. I’m sure I can do better than that by purchasing fresh fruit, chopping and freezing it myself.

Begin by picking whatever fresh fruit is available and on sale at your local grocer. I purchased a pineapple ($2), 4 mangos ($1.76), 1 melon ($2.78) and a bunch of bananas (1.50). My cost = $8.04

Did you notice my freezer trays? We are still not completely unpacked and haven’t moved our chest freezer yet,  so I used the tops of plastic storage tubs as small trays to fit in the side-by-side freezer I have available right now.

Once the fruit is frozen solid, remove them from the trays and place in a large bowl for mixing.

I make my own tropical fruit mix for smoothies. It ends up costing $1 per pound | PreparednessMama

My experiment yielded 6 quart bags of frozen tropical fruit mix weighing 1.6 pounds each, for a total of over 8 pounds of my custom made tropical fruit mix for smoothies.  I’ve stored all this fresh fruit for about a $1 per pound, that’s a savings of $1.50 per pound!

Here's a little trick I learn to freeze a lot of fruit in a small space. Using a plastic tub, player the fruit on froil or plastic wrap. Once frozen just remove each layer. You can get a lot of fruit in a small space | PreparednessMama

Are ceramic knives right for you? They just might be!

If you process a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables for food storage and are looking for reliable knives that do not need to continually be sharpened, then a set of ceramic knives from EasyLife may be for you. We sure are enjoying ours!

I was given a set of knives at a significant discount in exchange for an honest review of this product. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

#For1Easylife

 Share your ceramic knife escapades in the comments below. I would love to hear how you are using yours for food storage.

 

PreparednessMama
Preparedness Mama and its collaborators have created a one-stop shop of critical resources for families looking to prepare for disaster. We know firsthand that getting ready for the worst with a big family poses some particular challenges.
 
We’ve learned from the past so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes again. Fear of the unknown is one of the scariest things in life, but we hope that Preparedness Mama’s treasure trove of practical advice will make that unknown less daunting and ultimately help take the scared out of being prepared for every single one of our readers.

Comments

  1. Nancy says

    July 2, 2016 at 4:06 am

    Personally I don’t use ceramic knives. I prefer steel knives over ceramic knives. However, great post indeed about using ceramic knives for food storage processing. It seems these knives help to keep fruit freash.

    Reply
  2. Faye says

    July 5, 2016 at 10:17 am

    i so love browsing for kitchenwares, this is awesome!

    Reply
  3. Barry says

    October 2, 2016 at 8:40 pm

    Interesting post!
    I’ve never used ceramic knives in the past because I’ve always heard the negatives towards them.
    Had no idea that it was better for certain foods! Will definitely give this a go.

    Thanks!

    Reply
  4. Alex redy says

    December 21, 2016 at 6:48 am

    This is awesome!

    Reply
  5. Jenifar Jarin says

    December 18, 2017 at 2:14 pm

    This is excellent product review which is helpful for us, actually ceramic knife is suitable for our kitchen & dining because it is very safe for baby. Thanks for sharing this actual informative article.

    Reply

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