Paring knives
Pairing Knife – your best tool for fruits and veggies
What is a paring knife?
A paring knife is a small, versatile knife with a sharp blade and pointed tip. It's a must-have in every kitchen and has a lot of uses. The paring knife's name comes from what it does - cutting off/ peeling away the outer layers of fruit or vegetables.
What can I use a paring knife for?
Paring knives are very versatile vegetable knives which can be useful in a number of culinary tasks such as:
- peeling fruit and vegetables, hulling strawberries
- peeling and cutting tomatoes (tomato knives)
- coring: removing seeds or other harder, fleshier, unwanted stuff from fruits. Even though there are specific instruments for coring, using our paring knife to perform this is simple.
- cutting a slash or other patterns in the surface of the bread and pastry dough before baking to prevent it from cracking
- mincing and dicing: cutting smaller components like shallots or garlic is easier with a small paring knife.
- trimming: The dexterity of a paring knife is ideally suited for jobs like trimming the leaves and stems off carrots or celery and removing fat, extra bones, or tendons from chicken or shellfish
- deveining shrimps
For better fruit and vegetable preparation, you can also check our vegetable graters, as well as mandoline slicers and peelers.
How do I choose the best paring knife?
When you want to shop for a paring knife for your kitchen, you should look out for:
- comfortable blade length: If you have a smaller hand, you'll prefer a smaller blade to handle it well. The majority of paring knives are between 8cm and 16cm long.
- great blade sharpness: It is crucial to consider the blade's sharpness and ease of maintenance while selecting the best paring knives. You should also sharpen the blade regularly.
- comfortable grip: A paring knife is used for precise culinary tasks, therefore for the best control, make sure it fits well in your hand.
In Kulina we offer the best paring knives, vegetable knives and tomato knives from reputable manufacturers like Eva Solo, Victorinox and Wüsthof, in different sizes and materials.
How to take care of your paring knife?
Kitchen knives are quite an investment so if you want your paring knife to last for ages, make sure you follow these simple rules for cleaning and storing your knives:
- knives are often dishwasher-safe but we recommend you clean your knife by hand as dishwasher detergents can damage the surface of a steel blade
- if a knife has a wooden handle, do not put it in the dishwasher
- to prevent wooden handles from becoming dry, regularly oil them with linseed oil or beeswax
- store your knife separately so that the blades do not get dull. Use a knife block or a knife case
- sharpen your knife regularly