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!

My 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.

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!

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.