Microplane 8.5" Grater/Zester

Pros: Grates beautifully, effortlessly, great for a variety of foods and purposes
Cons: Doesn't come with a cover to protect blade and fingers

Recently, we bought a Microplane 8.5” Grater/Zester for a recipe that called for ginger. I have a regular small zester (two, actually), but it wasn’t quite what we needed. I had seen the microplane in Bed Bath & Beyond, not to ...

Pros: Fast, fine zesting and grating. Hot girls use them.
Cons: None that I can think of

Okay, I admit it. I am a Food Network junkie. (Is there a 12 Step Program for us yet?) My Tivo like all Tivo's has a mind of it's own. If there is a program on that in any way relates to cooking, it decides to record it for me. One of my ...

Pros: Great for zesting citrus fruits, ginger, and onions.
Cons: none

Friends used to laugh at me for my extensive collection of kitchen tools. I'm not a collector of electrical appliances, but if I have more ways to slice, zest, peel, flip, and grate than anyone I know...well, almost anyone. Since I've moved back to my...

Pros: Easy on the hands; very sharp; dishwasher-safe; makes shallow cuts; nice size
Cons: VERY sharp!

We do a lot of cooking, so we often have occasion to zest and grate things like lemon and orange peel. This can be tough for a number of reasons. I have tendonitis, and most of those things require you to curve your stiffened fingers around in ...

Pros: Great for zesting citrus fruits & grating Parmesan cheese as well as coconut!
Cons: Blade can dig into plastic guard, leaving tiny shavings on blade. Rinse well before use.

WHY MICROPLANE? I have a smaller hand-held zester that is used almost like a paring knife. But I hardly use that, and when I do, I still must chop the zest finer with a knife because it comes off in long string shreds. I've been planning to get one ...

Pros: peels vegetables, fruits and even garlic, safe blade
Cons: none in my book

A wonderful kitchen aid to have handy is the Microplane Grater/Zester. It is an essential and very helpful tool to have around and much safer for me than the regular grater. We all know we use our hands for everything in the kitchen and using ...

Pros: Grates, zests and finely shreds - and is simple to clean up!
Cons: Can be a little unwieldy to hold while using.

Introduction Prior to taking a few culinary courses in the area, my experience with foods wa ...

Pros: Sharp, efficient, more precise than a box grater
Cons: Can be difficult to control with some foods, handle not bonded to grater

I have five Microplane graters, and frankly, no kitchen should be without one (though five is probably overkill).

The origin:
The story of Microplane graters is fairly irresistible. The wife of a woodworking tools salesman grabbed...

Pros: zests to perfection for any recipe
Cons: grates cheese too finely

I watched cooking shows constantly and usually want each and every gadget the TV Chefs use. I own a food processor, as well as an old fashioned box grater that I use for cheese but was using a veggie peeler for my citrus zest. I found that the...

Pros: Sharp, easy to use and easy to clean!  Inexpensive.
Cons: No cons!

I heard about the Microplane Grater/Zester from a friend.  I was not able to purchase it in my city.  She brought me one from her gift shop in St. Simons Island, GA.  I use it for everything when I'm cooking.  I have always used a ...

Pros: Very sharp, carefully designed
Cons: small grating surface

I have read about these graters, made by a U.S. company, called Microplanes. The story goes that a woman tried her husband's new wood rasp in the kitchen, and was amazed by it's effectiveness. Well, I did in fact buy a couple of kinds of rasps years...

Pros: Easy to clean, stays sharp, doesn't rust, light, dishwasher safe, grates a variety of ingredients.
Cons: sometimes food gets stuck.

I love using my Microplane Grater while I am preparing a meal or if I just want to add toppings on food. It adds so much flavor to all of my meals. Putting cheese on top of a salad or spaghetti used to be so hard before I bought a microplane. It is such ...

Pros: Versatile, easy to clean, stays sharp.
Cons: Not at thing!

I am accused of being a kitchen gadget queen, but this little beauty is one I will never be without again! I use it mostly for citrus zesting and fine clouds of parmesan and romano cheeses, but I've also tried onions and garlic, too. It handles everything I "throw" at it with ease, and washes up like a dream in the dishwasher.

They are made in the USA (!) and are quite reasonably priced, too.

If you run across the new Microplane box grater (not available for review here yet) BUY IT! Another superb product from the fine people at Microplane!