WFMW: Raspy-Grater-Zester!

Thanks to Shannon from Rocks in my Dryer for hosting the weekly Works for me Wednesday Carnival! Head on over for a lot of useful tips!



These have got to be the "funnest" set of tools that I have in my kitchen. Before I got them, I tried everything, and I do mean everything... a box grater, a knife, a cheap hand-held grater I got at WalMart... the list goes on and on. All I would get is a slimy, juicy mess, or big pieces of peel (not zest).

But then, I started seeing the two different Microplane brand zester/graters on all of my favorite cooking shows, so, I went out and purchase each one, at different times, and it has revolutionized my zesting and grating! I also have a Pampered Chef zester, but I only use it for decorations, as it leaves me with long strings of zest.

The Microplane "rasp" is awesome for zesting citrus fruit, ginger, coconut, and even for grating hard spices like cinnamon sticks or whole nutmeg. The Microplane "grater" is awesome for grating hard cheeses like Parmesan, as well as coconut, too. The Pampered Chef zester is great for getting long, thin slivers of a citrus peel (they sometimes curl nicely) for decoration.

How to use them:

1. Rasp-style Zester and hand-held Grater: Hold the item being grated or zested (like a piece of hard cheese or a lemon) on the top, and run it on top of the grater. I use the grater for grating cheese which I use for my home made Caesar dressing/salad, over pasta, or in an Italian recipe.

2. Pampered Chef Zester: Hold the zester in your dominant hand and the fruit in the palm of your other hand and pull on the zester from top to bottom of the fruit.

Of course, as with all graters or zesters, you must use caution that you don't "rake your fingers!"