My mother was visiting last summer and one day I came home to find a new kitchen tool – a microplane/grater.  I always wanted one, so I was pretty excited she surprised me with one.

This is the brand and model she purchased.  It works very well.  You can grate cheese, lemon/citrus zest, garlic, ginger, etc.  This model has a snap on cover that can also be used as a measuring device when snapped to the back of the grater.  Pretty cool, eh?  It is amazing how much you use a tool that you never knew you needed before.  Most of the time when a recipe asks for minced garlic or ginger, I peel the garlic/ginger and then grate them.  It makes much smaller pieces than chopping, which combine better in recipes.  My experience with garlic presses are that they tend to waste a lot of the garlic that is left in the skin.  When you skin the garlic, then grate it, you get almost 100% of the clove grated with very little, if any, waste.

The Zyliss grater is dishwasher safe and cleans up very well.  The rubberized handle makes it easy to hold while grating/zesting.  When storing the grater, just snap on the cover to protect the rasp/grater.  When using the grater, you can snap the cover on the back.  It serves as a measuring device while you grate.

At less than $15, this is a must have tool in everyone’s kitchen.

CLICK HERE for a link to the grater on Amazon.