I was talking to a chef friend of mine who also uses a few Kyocera ceramic kitchen knives. I asked him what he really likes about it. Aside from its sharpness, he also mentioned that his fruits don't oxidize and turn brown as fast when he uses his ceramic knife to cut it, particularly apples. I knew ceramic knives are chemically inert, and that they're not supposed to react with your food, but I thought it was in regards to taste, not color!

You probably guessed what I did next. I headed straight to the supermarket and picked up some apples to test this theory. I was really skeptical about the whole thing. But then again, the advice was from a professional chef who uses ceramic knives daily. He wasn't trying to sell me any knives, he was just being a pal and sharing his knowledge.

I started by cutting one with a $150, newly sharpened Henkels knife and the other with my Kyocera ceramic knife. I let them sit, taking pictures in random intervals. The results made me say "Oh my gosh!" The apple cut with the regular kitchen knife did indeed turn brown a lot faster than the one I cut with the ceramic knife! See the images below and click on them to enlarge.

7:10pm 7:25pm 7:55pm 8:22pm 8:45pm 9:08pm

After about 15 minutes, the apple wedge cut with the ceramic knife hardly oxidized at all, while the slice cut with the kitchen knife already showed some signs of discoloration. After about an hour and 10 minutes into the test, the differences became very apparent as you can see from the pictures.

I left the apple wedges out even after I was done with the test. The next morning, I was even more surprised at what I saw. The slice cut with the ceramic knife remained in the same condition it was the night before! There was no further discoloration or oxidation. I was amazed!

To be honest, I didn’t think this would really work, but as you can see from the images, it truly does! Now I can feel confident about cutting fruits ahead of time without having to worry about oxidation. Through the couple of weeks I’ve used a ceramic knife, this test really amazed me more than any others. Moving forward with my test, I don’t think anything will amaze me more than this.

Comments (7)

WestOrange said:

	... I heard about this on TV but it's nice to see an actual test about it
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October 03, 2008
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sarahj said:

	... thank you for the information. I didn't know this. I wonder if it does the same with avocados
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October 24, 2008
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stephanie said:

	... O.o very cool. I'd be interested to see it with other things too, do the avocado test~
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November 11, 2008 | url
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Site Admin said:

	... Thank you for the feedback everyone. I'll do the avocado test and post the same side by side images. Come back soon for the results :)
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November 24, 2008 | url
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Rayfil Wong said:

	... Proper knife skills enhance presentation. very key in successful execution in plate design
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December 21, 2008 | url
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Jerry C. White said:

... Acidic fruits and vegetables react to the metal ions in steel blades. If you slice a tomato with a ceramic knife and follow with a steel blade, you can taste the difference between two slices of the same tomato. I have been to the Kyocera world headquarters in Kyoto, japan and have seen firsthand the marvelous advances in knives there. Hope you publish a comparison between the standard white blade units and the black carbide zirconia? varieties someday. Also, do you know anything about the German Bokar units using Kyocera technology? Kyocera makes world-class printers with their Mita brand units, which cost far less to operate than the other types

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May 14, 2009 | url
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Chuck said:

	... I like seeing independent tests also. I wish some people who are skeptical of various claims would try them. I would like to see the look on their faces. I am talking about the kind of people who don't believe in synthetic things and such. I know people who don't think they make a difference. I just ignore that cynicism and make them eat my dust on the road.
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October 01, 2009
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