A knife for shredding cabbage can be in the form of a hatchet with two blades, a multifunctional Roma knife type, or a vegetable peeler. These devices significantly speed up the process of cutting vegetables, but it would be more practical to use specific shredders - a box grater, mechanical and manual; you can also use attachments for a food processor.
The tools are characterized by a long service life, ease of maintenance, and simple rules of use. Their cost ranges from 130 to 1,500 rubles, which depends on the specific model chosen (who produces it, whether it is a knife or a shredder, what material the blade is made of, and other factors).
What kind of cabbage shredding knife is there, its characteristics
A shredding knife must meet three requirements:
- be as sharp as possible;
- have a wide blade;
- There must be a protrusion/limiter under the handle.
In principle, if you have a regular knife in the kitchen that meets the listed requirements, then it can be used for cutting cabbage. But there are also special tools for this process, which make the work of a cook and housewife much easier.
We recommend reading the article about the best switchblades. From it you will learn about the main characteristics of switchblades, their types, and handmade switchblades. And here is more information about throwing knives.
With two blades
Knives with two blades resemble a hatchet in appearance, but their blade has two elongated holes. The steel is sharply ground, which makes shredding cabbage convenient - the “output” is thin strips of the vegetable of approximately the same size.
Most often, such a tool has a plastic handle, but sometimes the manufacturer makes the knife entirely from steel. The second option is not very practical to use because the metal handle quickly becomes slippery.
The most important feature of a double-bladed cabbage shredding knife is its safety. If you use the tool correctly, then getting any injuries (scratches, cuts, chopped/puncture wounds) is practically impossible.
Vegetable peeler
A peeler is a special knife that is used for peeling vegetables (potatoes, carrots, zucchini, etc.), but it can also act as a vegetable cutter. It is a structure made of a plastic handle and a thin blade about 9 cm long, which is inserted into a spear extending from the handle of the tool.
This vegetable cutter significantly reduces the time of shredding even a large head of cabbage and is suitable for working with different types of vegetables - regular white cabbage, red cabbage, Peking cabbage. The blades are made of stainless steel, so the peeler can be washed in hot water and using detergents/cleaners.
Cabbage and lettuce peeler
The vegetable peeler is easy to use, does not require any specific skills to operate, and allows you to chop cabbage for borscht, salads, and filling for baked goods or dumplings.
Rus 70504
The cabbage shredding model Rus 70504 is a classic knife with two blades, but with individual characteristics:
- produced in Germany by the famous manufacturer ROSENBERG;
- length and height of the tool – 280 and 15 mm, respectively;
- Blade width – 80 mm.
Cabbage shredding knife Rus 70504
The knife handle is made of plastic, the blade is made of stainless steel. Interestingly, the handle is located at an angle in relation to the wide blade - it is slightly raised. This makes the job much easier, because the cook will put much less effort into shredding the cabbage and will be able to process a large volume of the vegetable.
Knife Roma
A tool that is a universal device due to the presence of a sharp blade, a hole with a shredder edge, and a serrated blade is called a Roma knife. It is especially popular among housewives because it has the following properties:
- an ordinary knife - sharp, but it is convenient to cut off only narrow pieces of food;
- shredding device - a hole in the blade allows you to quickly process a large head of cabbage;
- fish cleaning tool - a serrator can easily remove even the smallest scales.
Knife “Roma”
In addition, next to the handle there is a bottle opener, and the blade with a smooth sharpening is equipped with a sharp tip protruding forward (it will be convenient for cutting, for example, a clove of garlic).
These knives are made of stainless steel, the handle is hollow, and there is a small loop at the end - you can store the tool in a suspended state. The disadvantage of the Roma knife is that it is impossible to carry out long-term work shredding cabbage - its weight is very light, you have to make an effort, so your hand gets tired very quickly.
Popular models of knives for cutting cabbage
There are many models and types of shredders to suit every taste.
When choosing, you should also pay attention to the company where they were produced, since the quality depends on the manufacturer. Currently, several models that best meet the requirements of housewives have gained popularity.
To make the cutting look even and neat, it is important to buy the right knife for this purpose.
Knife “Roma” for chopping cabbage
The Roma knife is a multifunctional kitchen appliance with a stainless steel cutting surface. Using this device, you can quickly chop the required amount of cabbage. Use a medium blade for cutting. In addition, it makes it easy to peel any vegetables and fruits and cut them into even pieces.
The main feature of a knife suitable for cutting cabbage is its sharpness.
One of the sides is designed for cleaning fish - it has special notches that make it easy to remove scales. It can also be used to cut cheese, ham, sausage and butter accurately and quickly. There is also a convenient opener for bottles and cans.
The blade should be wide and of the correct shape.
Shredding knife “Mistress”
This shredding device is made of stainless steel and equipped with a comfortable plastic handle with an anti-slip surface. Two blades, which are located at an angle, help to cut the head of cabbage into neat, thin fibers.
When using a special knife with two blades, injuries and scratches are almost impossible.
If desired, you can change their length and thickness, placing them at the desired angle. At the same time, the owner’s fingers are safe - it is almost impossible to cut them.
The “Housewife” shredder has gained great popularity due to the convenience and speed of slicing.
Knife for slicing cabbage and vegetables Gipfel 9746
Gipfel 9746 is made of hardened stainless steel and has two sharp blades. The manufacturer is the German company Gipfel, which is known for the high quality of its products.
The quality is confirmed by a guarantee upon purchase.
Thanks to the non-slip plastic handle, it is comfortable to hold. You can cut vegetables (and not only them) in any direction, in the most convenient way. As a result, the cutting will still be beautiful and even.
The advantage of such a specimen is not only simplicity and comfort when working with cabbage, but also safety.
Thus, when choosing a knife for quickly and accurately cutting cabbage, you should pay attention to what it will be used for, its convenience, and the manufacturer. Only a well-made kitchen appliance will last a long time, and the results of use will delight you.
Often the convenience of a model is determined empirically. Each housewife has her own preferences and volumes that need to be chopped.
How to choose a knife for cutting cabbage, their advantages and disadvantages
When choosing a knife for cutting cabbage, you need to take into account the following nuances:
- blade width is the best option 90 mm, but 80 will be convenient to use;
- sharpness of the blades – if we are talking about a knife with two blades, then sharpening them yourself will be quite difficult;
- what material is the handle made of? It’s better if it’s plastic, which will prevent it from slipping in the palm of your hand while working;
- is there a protrusion with a pointed tip at the end of the blade - this adds convenience to work;
- whether there is a limiter between the handle of the knife and its blade - this ensures the safety of the process.
The advantages of using a special knife for shredding cabbage are:
- speed of cutting vegetables;
- simple care, can be washed in hot water with detergent and in the dishwasher;
- absolute safety during operation;
- can be used for cutting any other food products;
- compactness, unlike a food processor.
The only drawback of such a tool that consumers highlight is its cost. No, it is not prohibitively high, but it is larger than that of an ordinary/standard kitchen knife.
Cutting tools: varieties and models
Since sauerkraut is usually prepared in large portions, it is not always easy to cut it into pieces of equal thickness in the required volume. A cabbage shredding knife with two blades comes to the rescue. Thanks to this device, it is easy to chop even large volumes of workpieces. You can also look at a cabbage chopping knife from the manufacturer Gipfel. This brand has long been known as a manufacturer of kitchen products. Its products help cope with cutting vegetables and shredding in the household. The German manufacturer took care of high quality stainless steel for the product, as well as a convenient design. A durable special device will take its rightful place in the kitchen. The Gipfel cabbage shredding knife offers convenience and durability.
The German manufacturer took care of high quality stainless steel for the product, as well as a convenient design.
Stores sell cabbage cutting knives, both manual and electric. An electric shredder is most often used in catering establishments when it is necessary to pickle industrial volumes of cabbage. It allows several people to quickly do the work that would have taken them hours to complete. In terms of price, such products are not cheap, but they also pay for themselves quickly in the enterprise. It makes sense to purchase an electric knife for shredding cabbage if you need to chop tens of kilograms of cabbage. Convenience, speed and reliability of the product help to cope with the task of industrial preparation of sauerkraut and pickled cabbage.
Convenience, speed and reliability of the product help to cope with the task of industrial preparation of sauerkraut, pickled cabbage.
At home, you can use Japanese knives. They are hatchet-shaped and are ideal as a knife for pickling white cabbage. A nakiri is a hatchet that allows you to cut vegetables into strips of the ideal shape and length. Ideal as a cabbage knife due to its reliability and ergonomics. The thoughtful design of a traditional Japanese product and a sharpened thin steel blade will allow you to cut vegetables perfectly. The product performs vertical cutting. The device is not suitable for chopping hard foods, but does an excellent job of cutting vegetables, meat and noodles. The design and reliability of the product have already been appreciated by many housewives. Thanks to the light weight and at the same time reliability of the blade and handle, you don’t feel tired in your hands when slicing, and shredding is quick and easy.
A nakiri is a hatchet that allows you to cut vegetables into strips of the ideal shape and length.
A manual cabbage shredder is a worthy alternative to a knife
A manual cabbage shredder is a design whose operating principle is reminiscent of a conventional meat grinder from the times of the USSR. It is equipped with a gutter made of food-grade plastic. A cutting board completes the package.
A manual shredder has several blades and a special mechanism that allows you to adjust their height. This makes it possible to shred cabbage into strips of different sizes, both in width and length.
Watch the video about manual shredding for cabbage:
Harvester attachment
The food processor comes with a special attachment for shredding cabbage. It is a circle with sides, inside of which there are two sharp blades. It is possible to independently adjust the distance between the blades and thereby obtain shredded vegetables of different thicknesses at the output.
This attachment not only makes the housewife’s work easier, but also makes the shredding process safe. It is made of stainless steel, so for cleaning you can simply rinse the nozzle with warm water and dry it. The device can be useful for shredding other vegetables - carrots, beets, as well as fruits such as apples - you will get slices (thin slices).
Attachment from a combine for shredding cabbage
Vegetable cutter for cabbage with box
It is a wooden body with blades on the surface. They can be adjusted, and already shredded cabbage comes out into the box and does not scatter all over the table. The vegetable cutter with a box is practical and easy to use - it does not slip on the work surface and does not require much effort.
The device is made of hard wood, coated with a special solution - its service life is long, the surface does not crack. Caring for the vegetable cutter is standard: it can be washed with warm water and detergent. Be sure to thoroughly dry the instrument before storing it.
Mechanical shredder
For ordinary manual meat grinders, there are special attachments on sale in the form of a partial cone with blades on the surface. They are made of stainless steel and can be presented in a large assortment - the size and shape of the holes varies.
To use, the attachment is placed on the meat grinder; while twisting the handle, you need to turn the cone around its axis with your free hand. Consumers note that such a device is inconvenient to use, and therefore is only suitable for processing small volumes of vegetables.
How to cut cabbage with a special knife
When cutting cabbage with a special knife, you need to comply with the following rules:
- Take the knife in your hand so that the index finger is on the handle, the thumb is on the side, and all the rest are on the bottom.
- The blade, during the shredding process, should move back and forth without leaving the surface of the cabbage.
- You need to chop the vegetable strictly across the grain to prevent too much oozing.
- For convenience, before starting the process, cabbage forks should be cut into two parts. If it's too big, then by four.
- Each time after finishing slicing the cabbage along a plane, you need to tear the knife off the surface of the head of cabbage, bring it in again and repeat the movements back and forth, “sliding” down.
Watch the video on how to use a special cabbage knife:
Following these recommendations, it is impossible to cut the vegetable into large pieces.
Rules for using the shredder
Shredding cabbage with a cabbage shredding knife is permissible to a pre-selected thickness. All slices cut will be exactly the same thickness as the distance between the blades. You need to chop cabbage leaves across the grain, keeping your thumb on the handle and your index finger on top, as this will help you follow the movement of the knife. When slicing a vegetable, the top of the head of cabbage with the strongest leaves is selected.
An important rule is to hold the product with your whole hand, and not with your fingertips. The first phalanges should be in a half-bent state. This will make it possible to protect your hands from unnecessary injuries. It is worth considering the force with which the equipment for grinding components is held. To avoid putting unnecessary pressure on your fingers and to concentrate on the grinding speed, you need to apply minimal tension to your hand.
Shredding cabbage can be done in the following ways:
- to myself;
- Push.
When performing a “pull” movement, the knife blade moves forward and down, and when performing a “pull” movement, it moves toward and down. Before you start chopping vegetables, you will need to prepare a large cutting board made of wood in advance. When slicing food, the edge of the knife blade should practically not come off the board, but should slide along it back and forth.
To correctly chop cabbage leaves with a knife, you will first need to select a cutting device that is straight in shape, and then adapt to a convenient way of holding the device so that you can perform certain movements without exerting much physical effort.
How to use a cabbage shredder
A manual cabbage shredder (wooden grater with a box or plastic) should be used as follows:
- Cut the cabbage into 2-4 pieces depending on its size. First, the top layer of leaves is removed from it.
- Wipe the shredder with a cloth soaked in a strong saline solution - this will disinfect the surface.
- Take the grater in your left hand and rest it comfortably on the work surface. You can use a large basin, but in this case the shredder rests on the bottom-side transition.
- Take a fragment of a head of cabbage in your right hand and make smooth movements from top to bottom. There is no need to exert much effort; sudden jerks are unacceptable.
How to sharpen a cabbage knife
You can sharpen a knife for chopping cabbage with a diamond-coated file or sandpaper with minimal abrasiveness (“zero”). First, the blade is sharpened from the outside - the one that faces directly to the cabbage. In this case, the file is located parallel to the main blade of the knife. And to remove metal dust and burrs, you need to treat the blade from the inside with fine abrasive sandpaper.
If you need to sharpen a knife with two blades, then they can be rotated on the blade into a convenient position (as a rule, they are attached with rivets). First you will need to unscrew/disassemble the handle of the tool, then unfold the blades and sharpen them. The knife is assembled in reverse order.
Fast shredding technique
High-speed shredding occurs in a food processor, into which cabbage pieces are placed, and the already chopped product falls out. But not everyone has the budget opportunity to purchase such an assistant for the kitchen.
How to chop cabbage with a knife so that you can quickly and finely chop the product? Currently, the optimal device for this is a hatchet knife with two blades. With its help, a large head of cabbage can be cut in a few minutes; the main thing is to master the cutting technique (forward and downward with the knife raised above the cabbage). When using it, the vegetable does not need to be cut at all, but before slicing, notches are made on the top leaf, then chopped.
The modernization of cutters has greatly simplified the process of pickling this vegetable, and the grueling cutting of sheets has turned into a favorite pastime for housewives.
How to chop a vegetable with a regular knife, how to hold it
Even if there is no special knife in your kitchen arsenal, you can use a regular one and chop the vegetable as follows:
- Take the tool in your hands so that only your index finger is on top of the handle, and all the rest are below.
- Cut the head of cabbage into 2 parts, remove the stalk.
- Cut the cabbage lengthwise into strips 3-4 cm wide each.
- Chop each of the resulting strips into thin “noodles”.
This method is not safe; you need to carefully monitor the position of your free hand - it holds the cabbage fork, but the fingers are slightly bent to prevent injury to the fingers.
How to finely shred cabbage
It is necessary to shred the cabbage very thinly, because in this form it looks beautiful. Anyone who is very good at using the secrets of correct cutting and easily operates a knife for grinding cabbage leaves will cope with a large amount of vegetables much faster than someone who does not have experience and dexterity.
Most experts say that:
- thinly sliced food on the table looks elegant and presentable (for example, Korean salads);
- the thinly chopped ingredient is absorbed by the body much faster and better (this is especially important for children, the elderly and those who have problems with the gastrointestinal tract and teeth).
If you carefully and quickly grind the cabbage leaves using professional equipment, the housewife has less chance of cutting herself.
It’s easy to shred cabbage finely by following these steps:
- Before you start, you need to cut the head of cabbage into 2 parts. If the fruit is very large, it should be divided into 4 parts.
- Afterwards, each part will need to be cut into slices across the fibers placed on the sheet. This is necessary so that during further slicing, the cabbage shavings will be up to 8 cm long.
- Then the prepared parts must be cut into strips using a cabbage shredding knife, while controlling the thickness of the chips at 3 mm.
- Cabbage cut into strips less than 1 mm wide will be flabby and lose its taste.
