Any way you slice itIf you want...

Any way you slice it

If you want to get serious about cutting up a watermelon, consider this 12-inch blade of razor-sharp carbon steel. Chefs like it because they don’t have to hack and saw and generally butcher the melon, and they won’t get watermelon juice all over everything. Your knife holder might not have room for it, so it’s best to get a sort of sheath called a blade saver.

Professional watermelon knife, $24.99; blade saver, $4.90, from Professional Cutlery Direct, (800) 859-6994 or www.cutlery.com.

-- Charles Perry

As ye sow ...

Make a gift of this neatly packaged herb garden kit to inspire gardening and cooking with fresh herbs. The seeds will grow in a garden bed, pots or window boxes. Each kit contains seeds for 10 herbs. Wooden stakes are provided for labeling the plants.

Garden Markers culinary herb garden, $24.95, from Sur La Table stores or www.surlatable.com. Or call (800) 243-0852.

-- Donna Deane

Egg wizardry

It always seems like it takes a bit of wizardry to perfectly slice an egg. But this gadget does it effortlessly -- and nicely -- for you. It has two tools, one to cut hard-boiled eggs into slices and one to cut them into wedges. It will also dice-cut eggs. You can use its stainless-steel cutting wires to slice through mushrooms and strawberries as well.

Egg slicer-wedger, $18, from Williams-Sonoma stores or www.williams-sonoma.com. Or call (877) 812-6235.

-- Donna Deane