Ever since I inked the deal on my first book, I’ve been turning my kitchen upside-down every week, cramming the fridge and stuffing the pantry silly with a superabundance of vegs and herbs. It goes without saying that I spend a lot of time breaking down all that food on my massive butcher block with an arsenal of knives à la Dexter.
I own a lot of knives, mostly German and Japanese blades from a cleaver to a santoku, but one of the recent standouts is a new knife I was given from a company called New West KnifeWorks — and they’re based right here in the USA.
I have to admit that the first time I laid eyes on their signature Fusionwood 2.0 line (from which this particular knife came), I was simply smitten with its good looks. This is one gorgeous tool!
And not only is it gorgeous, it’s also one of the greenest knives you can buy. The handle is crafted from sustainably harvested hardwood in Vermont, then paired with a high-performance steel blade and assembled by artisans in Massachusetts — all in a factory run completely on hydro-electric power. Every knife is engineered and tested in New West KnifeWorks’ headquarters in Wyoming and given a lifetime guarantee for non-commercial use. In an era where stuff is not often made to last, it’s assuring to know that a small and conscientious company stands behind the quality of its products.
Aside from aesthetics, one of the things that intrigued me about the line was how it was described on the site: “Combining the heft of a European knife with the razor sharp edge of a super thin Asian blade, Fusionwood 2.0 gives you the best of both worlds.” Since I own and love both kinds of knives, I couldn’t wait to test this hybrid in my kitchen.
I chose the Mini Chopper Chef Knife (in the Tahoe Shoreline color) for a few reasons: I didn’t yet have this blade shape, I liked the idea of a scaled-down chef’s knife (which sometimes feels unwieldy in my hand), and I felt the small size made it a great travel knife (as I always bring my own knife when I stay in a vacation rental somewhere).
Right before my week-long ski trip to Utah, the Mini Chopper arrived in a sturdy burgundy leather sheath (a bonus!) and I put it to use making salads, stews, and pastas every night in my cabin (all of them very prep-intensive meals). It sliced through super ripe tomatoes like butter (where I’d normally use a serrated blade) and held its own chopping heftier vegetables like potatoes.
When I came home, I used it every day, several times a day, for slicing and dicing everything from garlic to onion. Despite a diminutive blade length of 3.375 inches, it feels comfortable and balanced in my hand and handles day-to-day chopping beautifully — it is the Mini Chopper, after all. After six weeks of use, it hasn’t lost its sharpness, and I have a good feeling it’ll keep going till my manuscript deadline in May (and hopefully beyond that!).
This week, New West KnifeWorks has teamed up with Garden Betty to give away a Mini Chopper Chef Knife! One lucky reader will win a Mini Chopper ($129 total value) in your choice of color.
How to enter: Leave a comment below and tell me what you love to cook this time of year that would make great use of this knife. (Any favorite recipes from my blog? No, it won’t increase your chances of winning, but I’m always curious to know what my readers are making!) To receive an additional entry, follow @theGardenBetty on Twitter, and leave a second comment below indicating your Twitter username. You have two chances to win!
The giveaway will end at 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time on Friday, February 28, 2014. Winner will be drawn at random and announced the following week. Good luck!
(By the way, you can also join New West KnifeWorks’ mailing list for a chance to win a seven-piece knife set. So really, you have three chances to win something!)
Giveaway Rules
- Giveaway begins February 24, 2014 and ends February 28, 2014.
- No purchase is necessary. To enter, leave a comment on this blog post.
- Only US residents ages 18 and older are eligible to enter.
- Two entries allowed per person.
- Odds of winning are based on number of entries received.
- Winner will be drawn at random.
- If winner does not respond within 48 hours after time of contact, that entry will be forfeited and a new winner will be drawn.
This post is brought to you by New West KnifeWorks. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that support Garden Betty.
Being a Bostonian and how this winter is never-ending… I’ve been making lots and lots of sweet potatoes and roasted veggies. 🙂
Great looking knives made right here in the USA. I wish them the best and hope they succeed more than they could have hoped.
I almost forgot.. @BillieHIser I already follow you!
Well, I’m half Filipino so we chop garlic and onions to put in everything!
That is a gorgeous mini blade, Lil on the short side for my liking. Great back light and hand models in this story as well. 😉
It’s still freezing in the Midwest so soups appear often on the menu. I am on the hunt at the Winter Farmer’s Market for the earliest greens, dreaming of fresh peas and early onions.
What a gorgeous knife! I am making a lot of soups and stews this time of year with the chilly rain here in The PNW. Each it seems has a starting point of onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and leek, so there’s a lot of slicing and dicing for which a good knife makes all the difference! And since you asked, I recently made your “Drunken Pumpkin Chili” for a chili cookoff and won Judges Choice! 🙂
I’ve been making lots of risottos to fight off the cold!
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Twitter follower as @kimeldredge
Onions! It seems I am always chopping onions (and my fingers!) for some recipe or other. I’ve gotten to the point where I wait for my man to come home to chop the onions so I don’t damage my fingers!
I am following you on twitter! Follow me back @teroldegotomato I tweet about food, gardening and pretty places
I love to cook butternut and acorn squash this time of year, paired with a green like kale.
I am a new twitter follower as @grandmasezso
Hi Linda, My fiance is from cajun country and has been showing me how to make some classic dishes from there. So far, I have mastered cutting up the Holy Trinity (celery, bell peppers, and onion and more onion) Between that and stirring roux, I think I am ready to move on to the next lesson. Maybe a new knife would convince him.
I would use these knives to prepare my everyday supper of lightly cooked vegetables — summer squash, tomatoes, broccoli, and onion along with curry powder, ginger root, and garlic.
I am making soups and stews, roasted veggies and slaws. The knives are beautiful. I would love to use them to chop vegetables for preserving. Thanks!
That is a beautiful piece of cutlery!
Nice knives! I would put these to good use cooking food I’ve grown in my garden and other uses on my homestead! Thanks for the opportunity and I love your site! Hope ya pick me!
I follow you on Twitter. – KjNDRA
We’re making tons of stews and sauces so a new knife would be divine. Great giveaway, thanks for the chance.
My fav for these cold winter days is french onion soup, made with a full red wine, gruyere cheese and a fresh loaf of french bread. YUM!
Living in the Northeast where our temps are plummeting again, I’ll definitely be making home baked french baguettes this week along with onion soup. My recipe isn’t the sweet kind; it’s got caramelized onions, garlic, fresh thyme (I still am able to harvest some from under my snow-covered cloche), thinly sliced mushrooms (baby bellas, plus some dried shitaki and porcini) in a clear beef stock with a splash of dry red wine. Instead of immersing bread and cheese in the soup, we broil open faced slices of the french bread with Gruyère cheese and a sprinkling of the fresh thyme and serve on the side. I also add about a quarter cup of chopped sauteed asparagus to each bowl of soup before serving.
This time of year I make a lot of oven roasted root veggies, which this would be perfect for chopping!
I use a lot of sweet potatoes and hard squashes and roast lots of root veggies, so there are many things that need chopping.
I follow you on Twitter (@fairyfractal)
Erin
fairyfractal at gmail dot com
I make a mean yellow squash/zucchini pasta that involves a ton of chopping – This knife would be perfect! Thank you for the wonderful giveaway.
Erin
fairyfractal at gmail dot com
I’m working my way through various kimchi recipes. My aunt Okcha doesn’t speak English very well and my mom never learned how to make it growing up so I’m figuring out the family recipe by trial and error.
would love to make sweet potato fries with this beautiful knife. twitter@grntmbnancy
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Gorgeous tool! I’m busy making cabbage salad with red/green cabbage, red radish (store out of daikon), green onion, cilantro, jalapeno, splashed with juice of lemon, olive oil, s&p, fabulous! Today going to make riff on your red cabbage kraut/kimchi, haven’t decided yet! Also made potato leek soup this weekend. Great time for chopping winter veg. (Thanks for the vicarious smell of your tomato seedling leaves!) Question: How did you ever choose the knife size/shape you wanted from this great-sounding company? They all are gorgeous!
I’ve been meaning to get a good chef’s knife to keep in our Westy–my benchmade pocket-knife works in a pinch but makes chopping a chore. Not much exciting going on in my kitchen right now (sourdough pizzas, brothy veg soups ’cause I caught a cold, and maybe some shrimp etouffe for dinner tonight), but I sure could use this in the bus for the trip we’re planning through Southern Utah in April.
Since we live in FL, we have a pretty good variety of fruits and veggies year round. I find that some of the larger knives the hubby can use, make my hand sore (carpal tunnel issue). So I’d use it as a mainstay to process fresh produce.
I’m chopping lots of sweet potatoes and squash this time of year, so a great knife s a must have!
Katie Boué liked this on Facebook.
Also, of course you know I follow you on Twitter, Facebook, the works!
Oh my, what a beautiful knife! I think we share similar criteria for what we enjoy in a knife – and my trusty, small yet strong, travel-worthy knife is on its last legs after a year in the van, sad story!
I would use this for chopping local fruit for my morning smoothies, dicing garlic (for EVERYTHING, because, garlic!), and preparing all sorts of veggies to sauté and accompany some eggs fresh from the backyard!
Gorgeous Handcrafted Knives from New West KnifeWorks, Plus a Giveaway!:
Ever since I inked the deal on my fir… http://t.co/o6h9KINjuo