You may have a cheese board and knives set in your residence but may not precisely know what task each one of those blades is designed to perform. Just as a professional chef will use various types of instruments in a day to increase their efficiency, each cheese knife type has a dedicated purpose to improve the consumer experience. We prepared a comprehensive guide and a printable cheese knife resource to help you utilize the proper tool for the artisanal cheeses you are planning to serve.
Types of Cheese Knives
According to standard dining etiquette, a cheese knife should not be used on more than one cheese variety on your platter. Each specific cheese knife performs a unique purpose and was built to perform it exceptionally well. Here is a list of common cheese knives organized from soft cheese knives to hard cheese knives. We'll go through how they are used and some specific cheeses you can pair them with.
Soft Cheese Knife
A soft cheese knife, also known as an open work blade tool, features holes in the metal to keep soft cheeses from sticking due to the minimal surface area. You can also use those holes to push a piece of cheese off of the blade.
- Features: Sharp edge, holes in blade
- Cheese Hardness: Soft to Semi-Soft
- Ideal Cheeses: Brie, Camembert, Fresh Mozzarella
Cheese Spreader
A cheese spreader, also known as a spatula knife, is made for applying cheese spreads and creamy, spreadable cheeses onto bread and crackers.
- Features: Dull edge, rounded blade
- Cheese Hardness: Soft
- Ideal Cheeses: Robiola, Stracchino, Cream Cheese
Gorgonzola Knife
Like a cheese spreader, a gorgonzola cheese knife is designed for spreading smooth substances. The gorgonzola knife does, however, have a sharp blade for breaking through cheese rinds.
- Specifications: One-edged knife, curve blade
- Hardness of Cheese – Soft, Semi-soft, and Crumbly
- Ideal Cheeses: Gorgonzola, Bleu Cheese
Pronged Cheese Knife
The pronged cheese knife, or forked-tipped spear, is a multipurpose tool that allows you to cut a piece of cheese and then pick it up with the prongs at the end for serving or plating. The narrow blade offers a minimal surface area so soft cheeses don’t stick.
- Characteristic: The blade is upward curve and narrow, the edge sharp and the end with prong
- Cheese Hardness: Soft to Semi-Hard
- Ideal Cheeses: Parmesan, Brie
Slim Blade Cheese Knife
A slim blade knife features very little surface area to prevent soft cheeses from sticking to the blade. It is typically offset from the handle to provide room for the user’s hand to keep the knuckles from hitting the board.
- Features: Thin narrow blade, sharp edge, raised handle
- Cheese Hardness: Soft to Semi-Hard
- Ideal Cheeses: Camembert, Boursault
Flat Cheese Knife
A flat cheese knife, or a chisel knife, is used to cut slices off of aged cheeses by holding the blade vertically over the cheese and pushing downward. You can then use the sharp end to cut the pieces down even further.
- Features: Wide flat paddle-like blade, sharp bottom edge
- Cheese Hardness: Semi-Soft to Semi-Hard
- Ideal Cheeses: Provolone, Swiss, Gruyere, Asiago
Narrow Plane Knife
A narrow plane cheese knife, also known as a trapezium knife, is made for cutting cheese as well as chipping away at the block. It is similar to the flat cheese knife but tends to be more rectangular in shape and features two sharp sides as opposed to one.
- Features: Narrow blade, both the short edge and long edge are sharp
- Cheese Hardness: Semi-Soft to Hard
- Ideal Cheeses: Gouda, Cheddar, Jarlsberg
Cheddar Cheese Knife
A cheddar knife, also known as a mini cleaver, cheddar cleaver, or semi-hard cheese knife, is made to cut hard cheeses. The wide blade and cleaver shape allow the cutter to use force and balance to push down and cut slices. The placement of the handle keeps your knuckles from hitting the board.
- Features: Wide rectangular blade, sharp long edge, ergonomic handle
- Cheese Hardness: Semi-Hard to Hard
- Ideal Cheeses: Cheddar, Gruyere, Colby, Fontina
Parmesan Knife
A parmesan cheese knife features a pointed edge made for breaking off chunks of hard and dry cheeses like Parmesan. It also has a sharp edge to cut rinds open. Parmesan knives come in two different styles: the bell cheese knife which will have an arrowhead-shaped blade, and the compact cheese knife which has a blade that resembles a shark tooth. Both styles perform the same function when cutting cheese.
- Features: Sharp-pointed tip, triangular stubby blade, sharp long edge
- Cheese Hardness: Hard
- Ideal Cheeses: Parmesan, Castelmagno, Grana Padano
Hard Cheese Knife
Hard cheese knives are typically one of the largest you will find. They are made for pressing downward and cutting through a whole wheel or wedge of aged hard cheese to form smaller portions. You will often find hard cheese knives with handles on either end to allow for even pressure distribution.
- Features: Long straight blade, sharp edge, one or two handles
- Cheese Hardness: Hard
- Ideal Cheeses: Asiago, Extra Mature Cheddar, Provolone, Comte
Other Cheese Tools
A few cheese knife sets will include extra tools for slicing and serving cheeses. As one of the top cutlery brands, Inox artisans have crafted every tool to bea cut above.
- Cheese Wire: A cheese wire, also known as a bow knife, is designed for slicing those soft cheeses without squishing or splashing all over the place. They appear usually as a bow or in a cheese plate that was indented for the wire. The wire would descend slowly through the cheese, and leave a clean cut.
- Cheese Plane: The cheese plane was developed to enable you to cut thin slices of cheese. To cut the cheese, run the plane on top of or sideways across the cheese. The slice will then rest atop the plane’s spatula-like body, allowing it to slide onto a plate or directly into someone's mouth.
- Cheese Rind Cutter: A rind cutter features a pointed tip that is made to score the rind of a hard cheese, making it easier to open. This is essential when serving stinky cheese varieties, which typically are rind-washed cheese. To use a rind cutter, pierce the rind at one edge and drag it neatly across the surface of the rind.
- Cheese Grater: A cheese grater is excellent for creating shreds of cheese. They will typically have razors on more than one side of it to produce different size shreds when a block of cheese is pressed down against the grooves. You can also use a cheese grater to shred a variety of other foods.
- Cheese Fork: A cheese fork is helpful on a cheese board for picking up cut pieces of cheese for plating. It can also be used to break up blocks of aged cheese into smaller chunks as well. For a complete hosting experience, the Inox Artisans Textured Cheese Board and Knives Set offers the perfect balance of style and function.
How to Cut Cheese
Whether it is a wheel, wedge or block of cheese you’ve chosen to pair with your cheese knife set, Now that you've learned what type of knife to match with each cheese, you will want to know the most effective way on how to cut those cheeses.
Soft Cheese Wedges
To serve, you can cut turns along the long side for long strips of soft cheese. It is not good form to cut the tip or nose of the cheese, as it is said that this contains the most flavor. It’s also wrong to scrape out the gooey center in a soft cheese, like brie.
Hard Cheese Wedges
For semi-hard to hard cheeses wedges, you'll want to cut these wedges along the width edge until you reach halfway up the wedge. The top half of the wedge is then cut along the length edge.
Blue Cheese Wedges
To cut a wedge of blue cheese, pinpoint the center of the bottom edge and cut in a radial pattern to achieve triangular cheese pieces.
Blocks
When cutting a block of cheese, first cut it in half to create two rectangular portions, then cut along the width of the portions to create slices. Slices can then be cut diagonally into triangles if you prefer.
Logs
Cut cheese logs by slicing down the length of the log to create cheese discs.
Wheels
If you’re cutting an entire wheel of a cheese, you can start by simply cutting the wheel in half to give you two more manageable pieces. Then cut in a radiating pattern to form cheese triangles. If you don’t cut the wheel in half, find the direct center of the cheese wheel and work outward like spokes on a wheel.
Whether you’re hosting a cocktail hour or holiday party, with your cheese board and knives set it is important to match the right knife for your cheese selection to ensure that people have an enjoyable time at your event.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How to take good care of my Inox Artisans Cheese Knives?
A1. For best care, we do recommend hand washing with non-caustic soap to retain the handles shine and wiping dry afterwards to prevent water spots.
Q2. Are hard cheeses also sliceable with a cheese spreader?
A2. No, a spreader has a blunt rounded edge made to cut through soft spreads; it doesn’t have a sharp enough edge for cutting firm or hard cheeses.
Q3. Why do some cheese knives have a fork on the end?
A3. The split tip (or prongs) is a serving point so that you can cut cheese and make instant appetizers, or to allow your guests to have the pleasure of sharing your culinary artistry rather than just eating it.
Q4. How do I store a cheese board and knives set?
A4. They should be kept somewhere dry. If your set includes a magnetic block or custom box, you can use one of these to avoid dulling the edges of the sharp blades on other utensils.
Q5. Is there a knife just for crumbling Feta?
A5. A cheese fork or small, narrow plane knife usually works best for crumbling feta or other crumbly cheeses into smaller, bite-sized pieces to use in salads or as appetizers.
