6 Best Cheese Cutters For Soft Cheeses That Prevent Messy Smearing

You’ve just brought in a beautiful, creamy chèvre from your own goats, or maybe a delicate Camembert from the local farmers market. You reach for a standard kitchen knife, make the first cut, and end up with a smeared, compressed mess on the blade and the board. Honoring the hard work that goes into farmstead cheeses means using the right tools to serve them properly.

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The Problem with Knives for Soft Farm Cheeses

A standard chef’s knife is the wrong tool for a soft, creamy cheese. The wide, solid blade creates too much surface area and friction. As you press down, the cheese doesn’t slice cleanly; it sticks, drags, and smears.

Think of it like trying to cut through sticky dough with a rolling pin instead of a bench scraper. The knife compresses the delicate paste of a Brie or a fresh mozzarella, ruining its texture. This is especially true for high-moisture cheeses, where the blade’s surface tension essentially glues the cheese to the steel.

The result isn’t just cosmetic. Smearing closes up the cheese’s internal structure, which can subtly alter the way its flavor and aroma are released. You lose the beautiful contrast between a bloomy rind and the gooey interior.

A proper cheese cutter solves this problem by minimizing contact. It uses a thin wire or a specially designed blade to pass through the cheese with very little friction. This preserves the cheese’s integrity, giving you a clean, presentable slice every time.

Boska Holland Wire Slicer for Creamy Cheeses

When you’re dealing with exceptionally soft and sticky cheeses, a wire slicer is your best friend. The Boska Holland slicer is a simple, handheld tool that uses a taut, thin wire to do the cutting. Because the wire has an incredibly small surface area, it glides through even the gooiest Brie with almost no resistance.

This tool is all about precision without pressure. You guide the wire through the cheese rather than forcing a blade down. The key benefit is a complete lack of smearing or sticking. It’s perfect for portioning a whole wheel of Camembert or getting a clean wedge from a delicate blue cheese without crumbling the veins.

The main tradeoff is its specialization. This slicer is designed for soft to semi-soft cheeses and won’t be much help with a firm, aged cheddar or Parmesan. But for the creamy, delicate cheeses that are the pride of many small farms, it’s an indispensable tool that ensures every slice is as perfect as the cheese itself.

Prodyne Bamboo Cheese Slicer for Clean Cuts

For someone who serves cheese often, a board-style slicer like the Prodyne is a fantastic workstation. It integrates a cutting wire into a handsome bamboo board, giving you a stable and efficient platform for slicing. You place the cheese on the board and lower the arm, guiding the wire through for a perfectly straight and clean cut.

The integrated board provides leverage and control you don’t get with a handheld slicer. This makes it easy to produce consistently thick or thin slices, which is great for preparing a cheese platter for guests. The wire is typically replaceable, so you’re not buying a whole new unit if it eventually breaks.

The obvious consideration here is space. This isn’t a tool you toss in a drawer; it lives on your counter or in a cabinet. While the bamboo base doubles as a small serving board, its primary function is as a dedicated slicer. It’s an excellent choice if you value uniformity and ease of use over portability.

Wusthof Classic: A Knife for Delicate Cheeses

While most knives fail with soft cheese, a specialized cheese knife is the exception that proves the rule. The Wusthof Classic cheese knife, for example, is engineered specifically to overcome the sticking problem. It features a very thin blade with large holes, or perforations, running along its length.

These holes dramatically reduce the surface area that comes into contact with the cheese. This means less friction, less drag, and much cleaner cuts than a solid blade could ever achieve. The forked tip is another practical feature, designed for picking up and serving the slice you just cut without needing a separate utensil.

A knife like this offers more versatility than a wire slicer. You can use its sharp edge to handle a firmer rind and its blade for a range of semi-soft cheeses. It won’t be quite as flawlessly clean as a wire on an ultra-creamy chèvre, but it’s arguably the best multi-purpose tool for a varied cheese board.

Westmark Germany Slicer: A Versatile Option

The Westmark Germany slicer is a handheld tool that offers a bit more flexibility than a simple wire cutter. It features a sturdy handle, a roller, and an adjustable cutting wire. This design allows you to set the thickness of your slice, from paper-thin to a respectable chunk.

This adjustability makes it a great all-arounder. You can get thin, even slices from a block of semi-soft cheese for sandwiches, or thicker portions for a cheese board. The roller helps the slicer glide smoothly over the cheese, providing a level of control that freehand cutting can’t match.

It’s built from cast aluminum with a stainless steel wire, making it a durable tool that’s easy to clean. While it excels with semi-soft blocks like Havarti or young Gouda, it also performs admirably on softer cheeses, as long as they have some basic structure. It’s a workhorse tool for someone who wants consistent results across different cheese types without needing multiple specialized slicers.

Bjorklund Cheese Plane for Semi-Soft Varieties

The cheese plane, a classic Scandinavian invention, takes a different approach. Instead of cutting a wedge, the Bjorklund plane shaves a thin, elegant slice from the top of the cheese block. This is the ideal tool for serving semi-soft cheeses like Jarlsberg, Fontina, or a mild farmstead cheddar.

Shaving the cheese this way aerates it slightly, which can open up its flavor and aroma. It’s also a very efficient way to serve cheese for melting or for layering on crackers. The thin, uniform slices are difficult to achieve with any other tool.

It’s important to understand its specific role. A cheese plane is not for very soft, creamy cheeses—it will just make a mess. It’s also not for hard, crumbly cheeses like an aged Parmesan. But for that wide middle ground of semi-soft and semi-firm cheeses, it provides a unique and tidy serving method that prevents any smearing.

RSVP Marble Cheese Slicer for Uniform Slices

The RSVP Marble Cheese Slicer operates on the same principle as the bamboo board slicer but with one crucial difference: the base is made of solid marble. This isn’t just for looks. Marble naturally stays cool, which is a significant advantage when working with soft cheeses.

A cool surface helps keep the cheese firm and stable as you slice it. This prevents it from softening and sticking to the board, ensuring the wire can pass through as cleanly as possible. For anyone dealing with delicate goat cheeses or a rich, buttery triple-crème, that temperature control can make a real difference.

Like other board slicers, it provides excellent stability and produces perfectly uniform slices with a simple pull of the handle. The marble is also non-porous and easy to clean. It’s a heavier, more substantial option, but if you want the absolute cleanest cut on temperature-sensitive soft cheeses, the marble base gives it a distinct edge.

Choosing the Best Cutter for Your Farm Cheeses

There’s no single "best" cutter; the right choice depends entirely on the cheeses you work with most often. Your goal is to match the tool to the texture.

Think about what’s usually on your table:

• For ultra-creamy, sticky cheeses (Brie, Chèvre, Camembert): A wire slicer is non-negotiable. A handheld model like the Boska is simple and effective, while a board slicer (Prodyne or RSVP Marble) offers stability and uniformity.
• For a varied cheese board (soft, semi-soft, and rinds): A specialized cheese knife like the Wusthof is your most versatile option. The perforated blade handles soft textures well, while the sharp edge can tackle firmer components.
• For semi-soft blocks (Havarti, young Cheddar, Fontina): A cheese plane (Bjorklund) or an adjustable handheld slicer (Westmark) gives you perfect, even slices for sandwiches or crackers.
• For presentation and consistency: A board slicer with a wire is unmatched. Choose bamboo for an all-purpose workhorse or marble for superior performance with temperature-sensitive soft cheeses.

Ultimately, the best tool is the one that respects the cheese. It should make serving simple and clean, so you and your guests can focus on enjoying the flavor and texture you worked so hard to create or source.

Investing in the right cutter is a small step that pays off in every slice, ensuring the first bite is just as good as the last. It’s about preserving the integrity of the cheese from the farm to the plate.