How to Chop Nuts

How to Chop/Crush Nuts for Salads - as part of the expert series by GeoBeats. Today I am going to talk to you about how to chop nuts to put in a salad or a cookie or a brownie. Any use for a chopped nut. So I am going to try some pecans today. I will take a handful, put them on my cutting board and I am using a chef's knife. A knife that is about two inches wide here in the blade, which will allow me to chop up and down, up and down, up and down. Never banging the knuckles on my hand. If I bang these knuckles I am going to quit and use a food processor, which does not do a very good job. The nuts come out uneven. So if you want even chopped nut, you got to do it by hand. Take my chef's knife, line them up and start chopping. Up and down, up and down. The tip of the knife stays on the cutting board. And I keep chopping so that I get through all the nuts. Once I have got them all chopped in this little rocking motion, forward back, forward back, up and down, I can gather everything together with the back edge of the knife. Not the cutting edge, the back edge, so I do not ruin the cutting edge of my blade. And I can put the knife back on the cutting surface, stabilize the tip and chop some more until you have the size pieces that you want. Sometimes you want bigger, sometimes smaller depending on your end use. So you just keep chopping until you have the texture that you are looking for. So right now, this looks to me like a beautiful size to toast and then sprinkle onto my salad. And you have beautiful chopped nuts, so go chop and have some fun.