What Is A Paring Knife And How To Use Is - HDMD Knives Blog

Paring knives are small yet robust tools that can handle many everyday kitchen tasks. A paring knife joined by a chef’s knife will come in handy when preparing fruits and vegetables for meals.

A paring knife is much easier to control than a chef’s knife. That’s why they are preferred by many to cut up fruits and vegetables as well as to peel their skin. Their size and controllability also make them perfect for cuts that require precision. Paring knives help when cutting up fruits and vegetables or any other ingredient that you need to hold in your hand.

This article will cover everything you need to know about paring knives, their uses, and tips on shopping and caring for one.

Table of contents

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• What exactly is a paring knife?
• How to use a paring knife – skills and technique
  • Grip
• Uses of a paring knife
  • Segmenting citrus fruits
  • Deveining shrimp
  • Peeling apples
  • Scoring beef
  • Other uses of paring knives
• What to look for when buying a paring knife
• How to care for a paring knife?
  • Cleaning
  • Sharpening and honing
  • Storing

What exactly is a paring knife?

A paring knife is a small knife mainly used for carving, slicing, and chopping fruits and vegetables. Compared to other types of kitchen knives, they have much smaller and thinner blades that make them perfect for detailed work like coring and peeling.

A paring knife’s blade is usually between 3 and 4 inches long. In comparison to a six to twelve inches long chef’s knife blade, they are much easier to handle.

This ease of handling comes in handy, especially when peeling and doing detailed work on fruits and vegetables. Because of the paring knife uses, they are also known as fruit or vegetable knives.

How to use a paring knife – skills and technique

From peeling vegetables to slicing fruits for salad, here is everything you need to know about paring knife uses in the kitchen.

Grip

The ability to hold a kitchen knife firmly and comfortably in your hands is perhaps one of the most important things. The small blade of a paring knife comes with a slim handle that you can grip tightly and control the blade as if it was an extension of your arm.

Although there are numerous ways to hold a paring knife, here are the most basic grip techniques to get you started.

For peeling

1. Grip the handle of the paring knife with your thumb sticking out, a lot like the hitchhiker sign. 
2. Hold the fruit or vegetable you’re peeling with your non-dominant hand.
3. Secure the position of the ingredient with your thumb and rotate or move the ingredient with the other hand as you peel.

For slicing

1. Pinch the blade a lot like holding a chef’s knife and start slicing.
2. For tasks that require precision, like removing the peel of an orange or coring an apple, place your index finger on the heel (the back, dull part) of the blade. Doing this will help you guide the blade when applying force. Japanese chefs mainly prefer this grip technique, whether working with a gyuto or any other knife. 

These are the two most basic uses of paring knives you can utilize in the kitchen right away. Of course, the use of paring knives isn’t just limited to peeling and slicing fruits and vegetables. You can use paring knives to chop, dice, and mince any other ingredient that you see fit for the size of the blade.

Uses of a paring knife

In addition to slicing and peeling off fruits and vegetables, use a paring knife to cut up veggies like Brussel sprouts, jalapenos, baby carrots, and fruits like strawberries, raspberries, and grapes.

Due to their small blade and lightweight nature, paring knives are the ideal instruments for making delicate cuts. Here are a few examples of employing a paring knife when you need precision.

Segmenting citrus fruits

You can segment citrus fruits like oranges, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes to serve on a platter, making them look nicer and easier to eat by removing the chewy membrane and the bitter pith.

Even though you can use a chef’s knife to segment citrus fruits, it’s a lot more convenient to do it with a paring knife. Here is how to segment citrus using a paring knife.

1. Cut the bottom and top ends of the citrus to place it flat on the cutting board.
2. Slice off the peel and pith to reveal the fruit. 
3. Once you’re left with juicy citrus, hold it in your hand and cut in between the membranes and take out the segments. 

After segmenting any citrus fruit, don’t let the membrane go to waste. Use the leftovers to make juices as there is still plenty of fluids left in the membranes.

Deveining shrimp

Surely, there are tools specifically designed to devein shrimp, but a paring knife handles the task just as well. You won’t need an extra tool as long as you know what to do with your paring knife. Here is how to devein shrimp with a paring knife.

1. Start deveining shrimp by making a thin slit along the back of the shrimp to reveal the dark vein.
2. Slip the pointed tip of the paring knife underneath the vein and pull it out.

If the shrimp isn’t pre-cleaned, peel it by getting your thumb beneath the shell and gently remove it from the meat. Once you pull the shell, squish the bottom of the tail where it joins the meat and remove the tail from the shrimp. What you’re now left with is a shrimp ready to devein.

Peeling and deveining a shrimp is easy as that. We highly recommend doing this step yourself as cleaned shrimp tend to cost more.

Peeling apples

Though you can peel more than just apples, a paring knife can function as the perfect peeler once you get the hang of it. When peeling with a paring knife, adjust your grip slightly to secure the apple’s position and go slow. Otherwise, it may result in accidents.

1. Hold the apple firmly in your non-dominant hand and grip the knife’s handle with your thumb up, securing the apple in place.
2. Starting from the top to bottom, peel the skin slowly in circular motions.

The goal is to peel the skin of an apple in one take, removing the skin in a single, long piece. It’s not just apples that you can peel with a paring knife. Use it to peel any fruit and vegetable you see fit, such as peaches, pears, potatoes, onions, and more. You can even peel tiny fruits like grapes using a paring knife.

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