Ulu, who knew?

An ulu much like the one shown above was among the gifts I received last Christmas. Initially, I was skeptical and considered it more of a novelty gift than anything else. I seriously doubted I'd ever use it. To my surprise it has become an indispensible kitchen tool. Because the center of force is directly above the center of the blade, it's great for chopping, especially the harder things that seem to require palm pressure above an ordinary kitchen chopping knife. It also works splendidly for mincing, because the curved blade is well suited for rocking back and forth over spices, herbs, etc. Three cheers for a great Inuit invention!