Blade Free

6Dec/06Off

Blade Free

The Yoshi Blade: Now You Can Cut Down on Prep Time

Most cooks generally agree that the worst part of cooking is getting everything ready to make their pièce de résistance. Most great dishes require prep work – maybe it's chopping the vegetables for your homemade pico de gallo, slicing the ingredients for your mango salsa, or simply scraping and cutting the vegetables and meat for your homemade soup. It is all the "grunt work" that goes into a good meal.

The difference between prep time that is a chore and prep time that's a breeze can be a good, sharp knife – like the Yoshi Blade ceramic knife. This powerful knife will cut bread without smashing it. It will let you slice vegetables like a surgeon, thanks to its precision, ceramic blade. And as for cutting meat, the Yoshi Blade always stays sharp enough to cut the thickest cuts of meat.

What helps to make the Yoshi Blade so special is its Santoku design and the materials used in its construction.

Santoku design

Santoku is an all-purpose kitchen knife that originated in Japan. Its 5- to 8-inch blade has a flat edge and a sheep's foot blade that curves in an angle at the end of the knife. The handle of the knife aligns with the top of the blade. When translated, the word Santoku means "three uses," which is perfect for the Yoshi Blade as it easily performs the three tasks you want of any knife: it slices, dice and minces. This means the Yoshi Blade is just about the only knife you need in your kitchen.

Santoku- designed knives are lighter, thinner and shorter than a Western chef's knife, which is usually about 8 inches long. And remember, a shorter knife is more nimble to use.

Materials

The Yoshi Blade is an eco-friendly design that will not rust and will keep its sharp, precision edge year after year. Its blade is make of zirconium oxide, one of the most studied ceramic materials. If the term "zirconium" sounds familiar, it should. Single crystals of the cubic form of zirconia are used in jewelry – cubic zirconia. The qualities that make this faux gem stone so hard to tell from its diamond counterpart make it a strong, sharp knife that is 40 percent stronger than steel. In fact, it is the second-hardest material known to man after the diamond. And because the Yoshi Blade is made of a ceramic material, it will not rust or pit.

When making a Yoshi Blade, the material forming the blade undergoes high-pressure molding. Then it is fired at temperatures in excess of 1832° Fahrenheit. The material is then polished on a wheel to form the cutting edge, which is attached to the handle of the knife.

There are other great qualities about the Yoshi Blade. For instance, it will not stain or rust because of the hardness of the ceramic material. It is also a non-stick surface that makes the blade easy to clean. And, as opposed to stainless steel, the ceramic blade will never alter the taste of food it touches.

Caring for your Yoshi Blade is pretty simple. First it will rarely need sharpening. If, by some chance, it becomes dull, the manufacturer will sharpen it for just the cost of shipping and handling.

Packaging

Manufacturers of the Yoshi Blade knife usually offer the knife as part of a package, which can make it an even more valuable deal. One package offers a free ceramic peeler – for use when peeling carrots, radishes and cucumbers – free with the purchase of the knife. Other times, you can buy a set of the Yoshi Blades, including a 5-inch slicing knife, a 4-inch paring knife and a 3-inch paring knife. No matter which package you find, a Yoshi Blade knife is bargain like no other.

Reviews

If you're still not sure about the claims made about Yoshi Blade knives, check out online reviews that tout the benefits of the Yoshi Blade knife:

"The paring knife, as well as the other two ceramic Yoshi Blade knives, performed flawlessly on fruits and vegetables we tested, as well as turkey breast. We were able to thinly slice the softest and juiciest tomatoes and get a nice slice of cooked turkey with the same knife," said one reviewer.

"The Yoshi blade might not out-perform some of the top-dollar (a few hundred dollars per knife) chef's knives, but for the $30 price point, you would have a hard time finding a knife that performs better and cuts with such precision," read another review.

If you are a cook who values your time, you owe it to yourself to make some of that prep work a more manageable chore. A good knife can go a long way to making your time in the kitchen a more pleasant experience. See if the Yoshi Blade isn't the knife to do just that.

About the Author

Vera Baylor is a freelance writer who writes about cooking and specific products such as the Yoshi Blade.