The name is actually self-explanatory. But in contrast to ordinary scissors, the herbal scissors not only have two opposing blades, but five each. This has the great advantage that the leaves are not only divided once when cutting, but several times. For example, if you want to chop chives or cut freshly harvested wild garlic into even strips, the work is much faster with herb scissors. The same applies to thin lettuce leaves, which can also be cut more easily with the kitchen gadget.
Depending on the manufacturer, herb scissors can differ in several points: the sharpness of their blades, the stability (in relation to the hinges) and their cutting edge. All of the factors mentioned have an impact on how much force you need to use to chop herbs or lettuce leaves – but the green compacts themselves can also be cut with different ease due to their thickness and firmness. For this reason, you should pay attention to several factors when buying:
Below we present four models from well-known brands:
1. Westmark
Whether parsley, chives, mint or wild garlic: with the herb scissors from Westmark, chopping and cutting should be child’s play. The blades are made of polished stainless steel, while the handle is made of plastic – it has five different-sized holes for separating the leaves and stems of herbs such as rosemary or thyme.
2. Gefu
The herb scissors from the Gefu brand, whose blades are also made of high-quality stainless steel, are significantly more expensive. From a purely visual point of view, the model (especially the handles) looks of higher quality – in practice it probably hardly differs from the competition. According to the manufacturer, the scissors are dishwasher-safe and come with a cleaning comb.
3. Mastrad
With this model from Mastrad, a herb picking function (for thyme, rosemary, tarragon, etc.) has also been integrated into the plastic handles. The blades are made of stainless steel, which should be dishwasher safe. There is also a cleaning comb to remove herb residues. A magnetic scissor holder is also included.
4. Encore
A bestseller from Amazon is the herb scissors with a reinforced scissor handle (for right and left-handed users) from Turata. According to the manufacturer, this model was made of particularly hard and corrosion-resistant stainless steel, which not only stays rust-free, but is also durable. Two cleaning combs are also supplied here.
By far the biggest advantage of herb scissors is their speed. Thanks to the quintuple blades, green flavor carriers can be chopped up much more quickly, so that tiresome snipping work is no longer necessary. In addition, significantly larger quantities can be processed in a short time. And that’s not all: The scissors can also score points in the garden, for example to trim herbs you have planted yourself – without damaging them.
But there is also a fly in the ointment: Since most herbs contain a lot of water, which escapes when you chop them, some of the residue gets stuck on the scissors or the blades. This makes cleaning a little more complex – but it is easier with a cleaning comb.
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