Sonoma County kitchen tools every chef will love

When was the last time you added a new implement to your collection of kitchen tools or assessed what you have?

Typically, people set up their kitchens when they move into their first solo apartments or get married; nothing is replaced unless it breaks.

But you don’t need to be a young adult, college student, bride or groom to take advantage of new materials and new manufacturing techniques that transform life in the kitchen.

If it has been years or even decades since you’ve taken a serious look at your cooking tools, you will be delighted with the improvements.

Take wooden spoons. For so long, most were made of soft wood, with thin handles that broke easily, especially when used to mix thick batters, bread dough and stews. Now there are beautiful ones made of olive and other woods, with sturdy handles, and French ones, with long thick handles that last almost forever.

A thick handle not only lengthens a spoon’s life; it also keeps your mixing hand from cramping or growing tired. The same is true of whisks. The wires themselves should be strong, sturdy, and made of stainless steel and the handles substantial enough that you can both get a good grip and use the whisk as long as necessary without your hand protesting.

Silicone has made a tremendous difference in our kitchens. From flexible lids of all sizes that cover everything from wine glasses to keep out flies to large bowls of just prepared foods or leftovers, these colorful, flower-shaped lids let us do away with plastic wrap and aluminum foil and allow us to store things in mixing bowls and serving dishes.

And if you love poached eggs but have never mastered the process, there is great news. Silicone poaching cups, with stainless steel hooks that connect to the side of a pan and holes that allow water in, create perfect poached eggs that stay together without adding vinegar to the water, a fix many home cooks don’t understand.

Silicone spatulas, the kind once made of rubber, are essential in any kitchen. They can take high temperatures without melting, as rubber spatulas do, and are flexible enough to scrape mixing bowls, food processors and such. They come in a range of sizes and bright colors, which makes snagging the right one from your counter-top container of implements easy.

CapaBunga, a local company based in Windsor, has used silicone to make reusable closures for both still and sparkling wines and recently introduced a new container, the Cheese Vault. It does not replace an existing container but rather transforms cheese storage, making cheeses last longer and remain uniformly fresh, without dry edges or mold. It’s a tad pricey - $30 - but if you use a lot of cheese, it is a practical investment.

There are other new environmentally friendly options for wrapping cheeses, sandwiches, produce, sandwiches, and almost anything we eat, except raw meat.

Bee’s Wrap is made of organic cotton treated with beeswax, jojoba oil, and tree resin. The warmth of your hands help mold it around whatever you are wrapping. It can be rinsed in cold water and mild dish soap, air dried, and used over and over again. Not only is the fabric sustainable; both the beeswax and the jojoba oil, which is organic, have natural antibacterial qualities.

Used frequently and cleaned properly, a cloth will last about a year. These silicon implements and beeswax closures are popular at locally owned cookware stores like Hardisty’s in Santa Rosa and Cultivate Home in Sebastopol. Both stores also carry the premier brand of porcelain knives, Kyocera, which are extremely sharp and keep their edge longer than steel blades. Every tomato lover should have a Kyocera tomato knife. Porcelain blades also prevent oxidation, which can occur when certain vegetables are cut with steel.

George Macros, who owns Earthworker Farm in Sebastopol, uses porcelain knives to harvest his delicate microgreens and edible flowers for his popular salad mixes, which keep longer than many other salad mixes for just this reason.

Kyocera also makes an Everything Mill, a grinder with a ceramic mechanism that will grind not only peppercorns but also hard salts, such as the popular Himalayan Pink Salt, seeds, and spices without ever rusting, as metal grinders do, or breaking, as grinders with a plastic mechanism often do. This one is not only sturdy, dishwasher-safe and adjustable; it is also nonreactive, which means it will not absorb flavors.

Lasers, too, have transformed implements we take for granted. Cuisipro, for example, makes a six-sided box grater that is extremely sharp and easy to use; the blades are similar to those on a microplane zester. Six blades allow for different sizes of grated cheese, root vegetables, chocolate, and more. And because it is so sharp and efficient, you’ll end up with fewer bloody knuckles. It is dull blades, including the blade on graters, that cause the most injuries.

Even cleaning has gotten easier, more efficient and more gentle. E-Cloth produces cleaning implements that range from small sponges and all sizes of cloths to scrubbers and large mops, designed to clean efficiently and thoroughly using nothing but water. You won’t need special sprays to polish your brushed steel appliances, windows, countertops, or glass-topped stoves. They last through hundreds of washings, too. Cultivate Home carries the full line, and E-Cloth is sponsoring a 20 percent off sale through the end of the month.

Certain kitchen essentials haven’t changed much. Everyone needs at least two good cutting boards, preferably made of hardwood.

The idea that plastic is safer, easier to clean and overall preferable to wood has been discounted by countless studies. Wood has natural antibacterial qualities, is gentler on knives and is easier to clean.

And speaking of knives, every cook should have at least two: a chef’s knife with a comfortable handle and forged blade, and a small pairing knife with the same qualities.

The world of knives has changed, with some of the best brands of previous years no longer the powerhouses they once were. The best way to shop for knives is at locally owned Sonoma Cutlery in Santa Rosa and Petaluma, or any cookware store. Ask for advice about the best blades and then try out a range of handles to discover a brand that best suits your hand.

Kathy Anderson, manager of Cultivate Home, prefers to stock the finest implements in each category rather than a wide selection.

Whether you are looking for French press coffeemakers, clay pots, unbreakable pizza stones or nonstick cookware, she leads you to the top of the line in each category, especially valuable if you haven’t thought about cooking implements since the day your rubber spatula melted in your Teflon omelette pan.

Michele Anna Jordan adores her new Good Now brand flexible metal spatula. Email her at michele@micheleannajordan.com and visit her blog at pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.

On the cover, clockwise form top left: Silicone poaching cups; more durable wooden spoons with a thicker handle; a Kyocera Everything Mill; a Kyocera Advanced Ceramics micro serrated utility knife; an E-Cloth towel can be used to clean thoroughly using nothing but water; A Good Now flexible metal spatula; Bee’s Wrap paper can be used over and over again.