I love cooking, but I have a few questionable culinary habits. If a recipe calls for any amount of garlic, I always double it. This mostly works out in my favour - bar a few notable exceptions (adding more garlic to a recipe that already calls for 8 cloves is a bad idea, FYI).
Another sometimes unfortunate habit is that I'm loyal to the bitter end to my existing kitchen gadgets, like my very affordable vegetable chopper. I would hate to have a kitchen full of things gathering dust - so much so that I resisted the allure of a Microplane grater for years. I was opting instead to use a mini grater that I'd pulled out of a Christmas cracker many years earlier, so you can see why there was room for improvement.
So, when Microplane offered to send me one of its graters, I decided to welcome a new addition into my kitchen. Here's why I swear by it now.
Microplane graters recommended by the Ideal Home team
This is a zester and a grater in one and the length of it allows you to get whatever cooking task you need done in quick time. It's a quality buy - the reviews on John Lewis say the same. Plus, I just love it with the Dusty Pink handle.
I've tried this Microplane too and loved its versatility, even though I have definitely not used it for truffle shavings (yet!). The grater element is a dream for hard cheese, garlic and ginger while the retractable slicer part can be changed to the right size to slice parmesan into shavings.
If you want a wider surface area for grating, this will be your best bet. It will also deliver a coarser grind, so it's perfect for grating hard cheese finely.
Is a Microplane worth it?
If you've already got a box grater that works perfectly well, upgrading to a Microplane might seem like a pointless expense. I can see why the price of one of these tools is offputting - you'll pay upwards of £20 for any given product from the brand.
If you can look beyond the initial outlay to the cost per use however, you might come around to investing in a Microplane. Since getting mine, I've used it pretty much every time I've cooked. And while I was mainly using my box grater for cheese, the coarse texture of the Microplane means I can use it for so much more.
In a given week I'll use it for garlic, ginger, lime zest, lemon zest and parmesan. It's also good for nuts and chocolate on sweet dishes.
I'm not the only fan of the Microplane brand on the Ideal Home team either. Rebecca Knight, our Digital Deputy Editor, has a very clever innovation from the brand: this Microplane bowl grater (£19.95 from Amazon) which fits over bowls for grating larger ingredients like potato, cabbage and apple.
You can also add our Deputy Print Editor Ginerva Benedetti to the list of Microplane devotees on the Ideal Home team. Gin says 'A microplane grater is one of my kitchen must-haves. I bought my first one - a Microplane zester/grater - in a Dean & Deluca store when on holiday in Washington DC eight years ago. It's still going strong and I use it for everything from grating parmesan (it grates so delicately, like snow!) to zesting citrus fruits and grating nutmeg.'
Gin adds 'I now have two of them, always on rotation, and a larger ribbon grater, too. They make excellent presents for anyone who likes cooking - I've given at least three as gifts - and because they come in loads of different colours, you can choose the handle to suit the recipient.'
Our Content Editor Sara Hesikova wouldn't be without her Microplane either. Sara says 'I'm a quite a recent Microplane convert but since Laura Jackson's influenced me to buy one after saying it's her number one kitchen must-have, I get what the fuss is about.'
Sara adds 'The way it zests my lemons so quickly, smoothly and effortlessly like it's nothing is just so satisfying. The same thing with hard cheese. I can't recommend it enough.'
You don't just have to take it from us either. This slim Microplane (with a gorgeous Dusky Rose handle) which I mentioned earlier has a near perfect 4.9-star rating, with one reviewer remarking that 'it takes the hard work of zesting and grating'.
I couldn't have put it better myself - if you're looking for a foodie gift to give this Christmas, this should be it.
