Can Opener Varieties and the Unique Way to Handle Each One
There are many ways to open a canned food item, regardless of where it comes from. The market for canned food includes a wide array of limitless flavorful possibilities. The more you investigate the further it will send you on a canned food flavor frenzy.
Let’s explore the many ways we can perfect the can-opening experience. A can-opener is a must have utensil in every professional kitchen. Understanding the different types of can-openers is just a small step toward becoming a chef with adequate knowledge.
A Brief History of Important Moments in Can-Opening Ingenuity
Mr. Ezra Warner patented the first can-opener in the 1850s. Thirty-plus years later, William Lyan and his improvement of the turning wheel, was a great contribution to the canned food industry and the advent of the can-opener. In the 1950s a company named Udico ensured innovation made way for with the introduction to the world of the first electric can-opener.
Since then the technology has continuously improved, which forced a company, Ermal Fraze, to push its limits and invent the easy-to-pull-open can more than a decade later.
Basically, without the correct can-opener or knowing its proper use, any of us could be stumped when we are simply trying to cook something fast and delicious. Remember, it’s just thin metal being punctured for the top of the can to come off.
Proper use of a can-opener piercing through this thin aluminum top makes that process smooth and effortless.
The difference between a professional can-opener and a household one has a lot to do its sharpness. Every different type of opener has a unique way to complete its opening process. Making sure that you have chosen the correct can opener for the proper can will make for an effortless, clean job.
Most of us are familiar with the classic cranking motion used with can-openers most people grew up with. Some of us have also have been lucky to own an electric can opener that, if used correctly, opens any can in just seconds. Below are some examples of different can openers.
Openers That Are Talon or Claw-type
A lever-type opener usually has a claw-type that the majority of people used to use the most. It is a clever classic design in which a small plate stops the blade from going too far into the can. This is crucial in that neither the blade nor the can will hurt you while it turns and opens.
How to use: Make sure you are very careful once the can is opened since the container, and the lid itself, will be extremely sharp. While the blade makes a small hole in the can, it makes a spinning motion so it can cut around the lid.
Church Key
A church key style opener is commonly used for prying open glass bottles that come with a crown cork and flat top beer cans. A single pressed piece of steel lets the edge press open on the can. It is very simple-to-use mechanism that allows you to serve everyone in no time.
How to use: Using the edge of the opener you can make a puncture on the can while holding it with your left hand. Quickly and firmly, while lifting the opener, the top of the can will open. It will then be easy to pour its contents.
Key
With its key-shaped apparatus, this can-opener is very practical. Most key openers have the key-shaped piece of metal already included or attached. Making it very easy and convenient to open anywhere.
How to use: With a particular spinning or unwinding motion a small strip on one of the sides of the can will tear. Once that happens you should be able to see the key or keys the can includes in order to create a rolling motion from one edge to the next.
Bunker
With this can-opener, you should be able to only use one hand. It has a serrated wheel that is powered by a crank moving a key that is firmly held by the bunker. It makes opening a can very easy. They are made with a plier-type handle, serrated wheel, and the aforementioned keys. These components work very well together to make this can opener fast and convenient.
How to use: The serrated wheel will have no problem cutting through the lid. As long as you have a strong firm grip on the plier-type handle, you can turn the knob key with no effort, opening the can quickly.
Butterfly
You can compare this opener to the bunker style opener. To puncture a can it uses the same church-key method. It also uses a serrated wheel to help puncture the lid of the can easily.
How to use: A hole on the lid is made using the church-key. The plier-type handle is what keeps a firm hold. The serrated wheel will quickly and easily puncture its lid.
Countertop
Attaching this opener directly to a countertop is just one very special feature this type offers. It slices the can open with the help of the groove holding on to the lip that sticks out of the opener. It uses a very strong grip to ensure that it does not move or you accidentally slip.
How to use: First, place your holder on a well-secured surface. Turning the knob with one hand while securing the tin with the other, the can will open with little effort with a neatly placed cut on every can.
Elelctric & Automatic
Not requiring the use of your hands to hold something that is potentially sharp is ideal for anyone. With powerful magnets to hold it in place, these electric can openers make for a great show when opening any can; small blissful moment whether you’re in a hurry or not.
How to use: Finding a good sturdy surface will make sure that your electric can opener won’t move or slip thanks to the powerful magnets. Placing the can on the blade will automatically rotate it, opening the lid. It has other magnets that help separate the can from the lid.
Instant Opening
Think about every soda or instant soup in a can you’ve ever had. When most of us were young, some saw our older siblings and friends making that loud snapping sound with a can in their hand. Manufactured cans that are made more thin make for a much easier opening motion than any other can opener.
How to use: On top of these types of cans is a piece of metal that you simply pull, causing a snap that opens the can revealing its contents. Pushing in the lid will help with pouring the contents better.
Different variety of openers
Hand-held opener
Bunker bottle
Bottle with a Church key
There are many more different types of can openers that are not mentioned. That being said the ones we focused on are the kind of can openers that you should have at home. You can look up battery-powered openers or even mini handhelds to make the job that much easy and convenient.