Before the meeting:
- Complete requirements 1, 2, and 3 of the Chef’s Knife Adventure.
- Secure additional adult supervision as needed.
- Learn about different types of kitchen knives by watching the YouTube video, “How to Use and Care for Kitchen Knives | Knife Skills 101 | MyRecipes.”
- Check with each Cub Scout, parent, and legal guardian for food allergies. Make any necessary adjustments to ingredients.
- Wash all the fruit.
- Prepare the ingredients and divide them up so each Cub Scout has the needed ingredients.
- Set up meeting space for Cub Scouts to be able to use knives safely and cut the fruit with a space for you to demonstrate how to slice, dice, and mince That every Cub Scout can see you.
- Make sure all chef’s knives have been sharpened and cleaned.
During the meeting:
- Gather the Cub Scouts and demonstrate how to slice, dice, and mince.
- Slice – To slice move the knife in a rocking, tip-to-heel motion to cleanly slice food all the way through. Slide the fingers of your claw hand back and move the knife (not the food) after each cut. Experienced chefs use the knuckle of their middle finger as a width guide for slices.
- Dice – To dice is to cut food into uniform cubes and is a three-step process. First cut food into even slices. Stack two or three slices on the cutting board, then cut them lengthwise into thick sticks. Holding the sticks together with your claw hand, cut the sticks crosswise into dice. When working with large quantities of food, make room on the cutting board by transferring the diced items to a bowl.
- Mince – Aromatic herbs, ginger, and garlic need to be minced into fine bits that will permeate a finished dish. Place the knife next to the item to be minced and set your free hand flat on the tip of the knife. Hold the tip down as you move the knife heel up and down in a chopping motion, rocking back and forth over the food until it is finely minced.
- Have Cub Scouts wash their hands.
- Have Cub Scouts put the kitchen towel under the cutting board.
- Give each Cub Scout their chef’s knife and ingredients, tell them not to begin until you have given them instructions to do so.
- The recommended order of grape, kiwi, tangerine, strawberry, apple, and mint is to work from a fruit that is easy to slice to then dice the more advanced mince. Remember the focus of this activity is on safety, not skill development. Pay close attention to proper knife safety and call out good behavior.
- Have Cub Scouts take their grapes and slice each in half.
- Have Cub Scouts take their kiwi and instruct them to slice it into four slices.
- Have Cub Scouts take their tangerine half and slice it into six slices.
- Cub Scouts take their strawberry and dice it by cutting it in half, then lay the flat part of it down and slice long ways, then turn the slices 90 degrees and slide to make small cubes.
- Have Cub Scouts take their ½ apple and lay it flat part facing down. Have them slice the apple long way (top to bottom) into 6 slices. Have them stack three slices and slice them six times making “sticks”. Then have them turn the “sticks” 90 degrees and slice six times again to make small cubes of apples.
- Have the Cub Scouts take their mint leaves and mince them by rocking the knife back and forth over the leaves until they are in small little pieces.
- Have the Cub Scouts place their cut fruit into the large mixing bowl. Add honey and lemon and mix.
- Give everyone a chance to try their healthy snack.
- Divide the fruit and tell Cub Scouts to take turns using their knife and cutting board to carefully cut up the fruit and put it in the large mixing bowl. Explain that they should dice their strawberries, mince their apples, and slice their grapes and kiwis.
- After all the fruit has been cut, drizzle the lemon juice and honey over it.
- Put a serving of fruit salad on a plate for each Cub Scout to enjoy.
Tip: This recipe makes approximately 10 servings. If you have more Cub Scouts, adjust the recipe accordingly.