Without fail, I always wind up eating waayyy more cheese than I intended. Years after I first witnessed Mom’s ostehøvel in action, the ingenious design still tickles me every time I fashion a snack platter, slice fruit for a bowl of oatmeal, or shave brunost (Norwegian brown cheese) onto crisp toast. Can any of us say the same about a knife? The slices are always shipshape, and I’ve never accidentally cut myself. In a pinch, I even use The Gizmo, as I’ve come to call mine, to slice cucumbers for salads and zucchinis for roasting. I also whip it out to achieve shapely pieces of boiled egg, banana, and mango (don’t be surprised when your kiwi tart at the summer potluck impresses all your friends). I use it to slice stickier foods, like cold butter for warm pancakes and potatoes for crisping up evenly in the air fryer. A cheese slicer is used usually to cut semi-hard and hard cheeses. It can do much more than its name proposes-and faster than your average paring knife, too. Bjørklund patented the design, and now, nearly a century later, his practical and dynamic ostehøvel is a common sight in Scandinavian kitchens.īut don't make the mistake of assuming the cheese slicer is a single-use gadget. It was the Norwegian carpenter Thor Bjørklund who first dreamed up the design in 1925, finding inspiration in his own carpentry toolkit: the planer, which was adept at neatly cutting uniform pieces of wood. Though any blade is capable of cutting cheese, this gadget solves many of the pitfalls you might encounter with a regular knife, like pieces sticking to the blade, or slices turning out uneven (leaving you with a grilled cheese that’s molten in some parts and still cold in others). They are even versatile enough to slice fruit and veggies as well. Mandolin cutters are some of the best cheese slicers. Use it for semi-hard and semi-soft cheeses. Check out our spar norway cheese slicer selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our cooking utensils & gadgets shops. Needless to say, Mom always knows best, and I am now the proud owner of a very similar, equally funny-looking cheese slicer. With a T-shape and resembling a vegetable peeler, it slices with a roller and a wire. It wasn't until a cheese basket arrived one holiday season from some friends in Wisconsin that I understood its utility, watching my mother shave perfectly symmetrical hunks and arrange the neatest cheese plate our kitchen had ever seen. As a youngster I gave little thought to the funny-looking mini-spatula with a rectangular hole. The tool drawer in my parents’ kitchen houses a Norwegian cheese slicer that is older than I am. This is Highly Recommend, a column dedicated to what people in the food industry are obsessed with eating, drinking, and buying right now.
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