stainless steel knife

[old-wos-is-name]

Hi all,
I was chopping up a cabbage at lunchtime today and the othe half said not to cut it too finely as the stainless steel blade kills the vitamins and minerals.
Is this right????? sounds rubbish to me.

[scotman]

sounds rubbish to me too.

[tenrec]

Never heard that one before!

[jomifl]

I cannot think of any mechanism whereby stainless steel (an alloy of Iron and chromium,mainly) could destroy vitamins (stainless steel vats are used to contain vitamin producing bacteria and fungus cultures) and minerals are also unlikely likely to be destroyed as they are pretty un-destroyable, being chemical elements. At a rough guess I would have to say... complete tosh.

[JonnyBoy12]

Yes, I am afraid I have heard this before so you must use a plastic blade. Sorry to correct all the posts above.

[carrot99]

....and yet I remember reading somewhere that you should tear cabbage and lettuce leaves etc rather than use a knife but I can't remember the reason (unless it was a recipe for those not allowed to use sharp metal objects....)

[old-wos-is-name]

Very strange. she is not alone then, but I just cannot see how a blade of a knife, that has been through the dishwasher, cut through beef, pork, other vegetables etc can sap vitamins in a split second from a cabbage.

[jomifl]

Thanks Jonnyboy, I will immediately modify my model of the world to take account of this phenomenon. So, no stainlees steel cutlery to eat my dinner and no stainless steel vacuum flasks for my vitamin rich tea.

[pastafreak]

I agree with Trim......certain metals will discolour cabbage and lettuce. The vitamin content is unaffected.

[gingejbee]

...however, cut the cabbage finely and you greatly increase the area from which vitamins and minerals will leach during the cooking. Nothing to do with the actual knife.

[old-wos-is-name]

eddie51, I love your answer! just about sums it all up. pure nonesense, stainless steel is, stainless steel. how can it discolour anything, its stainless. why do hospitals only use stainless steel for operations? why is a cabbage going to suffer more than a patient??? the mind boggles. lets see some facts, and also can someone advise on yeti hunting please. is it in season?

[jomifl]

Some people must cut cabbage very slowly..

[carrot99]

read Trim again - only stainless steel should be used, other metals will discolour the veg

[carrot99]

"chemicals naturally occurring in the cabbage will react with metal other than stainless steel" - so stainless steel is ok, no?