Do you have a microplane? I didn’t until last Christmas when my daughter, Mary, gave me one along with whole nutmegs and whole cinnamon sticks. Since then I’ve used this little gadget every single day.

What am I doing in my kitchen that would call for me to use such a specialized tool every single day? First, I grate my whole cinnamon stick (Ceylon cinnamon, NOT cassia cinnamon) over my daily breakfast bowl of mashed banana and oatmeal. Cinnamon is high in bio-available calcium, so I grate it into or over everything I can (herb tea, cocoa, ice cream, yogurt, tapioca pudding, even just plain hot water).

Next I use my microplane for grating the afore-mentioned whole nutmegs. The aroma and flavor of freshly grated nutmeg is SO much better than that from the grocery store. So I put it in my spinach soufflé and most of my muffin recipes.

I also use my microplane to grate hard chunks of leftover bar soap. I combine the gratings into a plastic squeeze bottle, add boiling water and a few drops of lemon essential oil, give it a good shake, and voila. I now have my own liquid dish soap.

I was curious as to what other folks were using their microplanes for, so I surfed a few food bloggers. Here’s how several put their microplanes to work:

• Grating Garlic. If you don’t like mincing or chopping garlic, the microplane is a good way to get the job done. Grating it on the microplane is super fast and easy.
• Grating Hard Cheeses. Anything hard grates really well on a microplane. It’s PERFECT for freshly grating hard cheeses like Parmesan, Asiago, Romano, and more.
• Chocolate Shavings. Chocolate shavings make such a pretty dessert garnish and it’s so simple to make shavings with the microplane.
• Citrus Zest. When I use my box grater for this I end up with too much pith, which is very bitter. But zesting citrus with a microplane is an easy way to capture the lovely flavor from the peel of the fruit without that nasty (although healthy) bitter pith. For an extra flavor punch, start adding citrus zest (lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit) to dishes and baked goods.
• Fresh Coconut. I know pre-shredded is easier, but there’s nothing like freshly grated coconut for amazing texture and flavor. And the microplane is the best tool for this job.
• Fresh Ginger. Instead of chopping or mincing ginger, peel the skin off and grate it into a fine and even pulp with a microplane.

Finally, to quote blog author Katie Goodman (Good Life Eats), “The method is the same for all of these uses. Just rub whatever it is you want to grate along the top of the microplane, just as if you were grating cheese. So simple; hardly any work at all!” I sure agree with her and thank my daughter all the time for this very thoughtful gift.

    Alice Osborne
    Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2006
    Email the author! alice@dvo.com