Hello readers! I’m Carlie, and I’m the Agricultural Exhibit Designer at the Backus-Page House Museum. Throughout the summer, I'll be sorting through various tools in the barn to get ready for the exhibit! Every Tuesday I’ll be sharing some of what I learned on our blog!

If I was born in the 1850s, I would have a lot of trouble getting through daily life. There are quite a few reasons, the biggest being that I cannot cook. I would need a lot of different tools to assist me, so with that in mind I started looking at tools used for food preparation, which are found in the pantry. This week is the first kitchen tool of our collection, the mezzaluna.

The mezzaluna is not only a fun word to pronounce (meh-zuh-loo-nuh), but a very useful tool. Although it was originally designed to cut pizza, the settlers used it to mince vegetables. The curved blade allowed the users to rock the device back and forth to help mince ingredients with finesse.  

I know when I'm cooking, I use the classic 'crush the garlic with the side of the blade and then chop randomly' trick. If I had a mezzaluna, I'd be able to chop garlic, vegetables, and herbs safely and effectively. Although we don't have one in our collection, a mezzaluna with three blades can even be used to cut meat or cheese.

You might recognize this device, but under a different name. The mezzaluna is named after the Italian word for 'half-moon'. It's also known as a hachoir, which is the french word for 'chopper'. Finally, the untrained eye might call it 'that cutting thing'.

If you want to see the mezzaluna and all of our other tools, come by the museum or visit the Farm Show labour day weekend!