The Importance of Sharpening Your Knife

What is the importance of sharpening one’s knife?  The very first reason why one should have a sharp kitchen knife at home is that owning a sharp kitchen knife is protection against jagged cuts during food preparation. A cut from a sharp kitchen knife is closed by the end of the day as against the cut of a dull kitchen knife – the wound is jagged and does not close easily. The second reason why kitchen knives should be sharp is that a sharp kitchen knife helps preserve the flavor of the dish one is cooking. Just look at the case wherein one is trying to chop an onion into fine slices. A dull knife presses out the juices of the onion onto the sliding surface, whereas a sharp kitchen knife will preserve the juices which are then incorporated into the dish that one is preparing.  In other words, a good sharp kitchen knife will definitely make one’s life a lot easier. It is easier to cut and slice food, and the food looks a lot prettier when sharp kitchen knives are used.

            Perhaps among the most precise and sharp kitchen knives used in preparing dishes are Japanese kitchen knives.  The Japanese kitchen knife itself is considered as an essential element in cooking and preparing dishes as this is thought to determine the taste of the dish itself.  In almost all cases, Japanese cooks own their own personal set of Japanese kitchen knives.  They are always concerned about the maintenance of these knives, making sure that these Japanese kitchen knives are well-sharpened and in peak form each time they are used. Some professional Japanese chefs even have several sets of Japanese kitchen knives as the knives are believed to need to rest so as to eliminate any flavors that may have stuck to the knives the previous day. Many Japanese professional chefs sharpen their own kitchen knives with the use of whetstones. These whetstones are often used to grind and sharpen the edges of the knives. Whetstones come in a wide variety of types and sizes, and may either be artificial or natural. Sharpening a Japanese kitchen knife is an exciting exercise wherein one needs to determine even the angle of sharpening while using the whetstone, as the angle of sharpening may ultimately determine the flavor of the dish being prepared.

            A very sharp Japanese kitchen knife that has been carefully sharpened over a whetstone results in food that is precisely cut, and the food is cut in precise shapes and sizes. One can simply imagine the precisely cut tuna sashimi, with its perfectly sharp edges that help preserve the delicious natural sea-flavor of the tuna. How would one delight in eating roughly-cut pieces of tuna sashimi? A sharp Japanese kitchen knife is truly an asset that one can be proud of, and it is thus considered as a tool in the production of wonderful gastronomic delights.

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