Strong Tip: Microplane Graters

Use a microplane grater. They are like a little choir of razors.

I first discovered this in the 1990's while I was doing side gigs at Cooking by The Book while I worked full time at Martha Stewart. Suzy (the owner of CBTB) had discovered a wood working rasp was an amazing grater. She had some sort of copyright on it. We bought microplanes immediately for the Martha by Mail catalog and Martha gave them to people for Christmas.

I looked, it seems Microplane has some other story about a wood rasp becoming a grater. My guess is the evolution of this tool is most likely a 100th monkey type story.


I think the microplane grater, in all its forms, is one of the best kitchen tools. Microplaning really makes everything easier. I'm all for easier. It has exponentially reduces grating time.And you can avoid the bitter pith when getting zest from lemons and oranges. Plus whatever food it grates comes out in a fluffy curly beautiful mound. It's an irresistible tool.

A bunch of companies make them, but my favorite is this one in the picture. It has two different sized holes for grating, and it travels well,which is important to me for photoshoots. This one is by Cuisipro.