Luxurious Magazine’s Sabi Phagura enjoys a slice of the action with the new Microplane® Gourmet Series Fine Julienne Blade, a very sharp handheld grater.
OK, so we all have become a dab hand in the kitchen with all that extra time during lockdown. While we want to continue to impress our loved ones and families with our cooking skills, now that restrictions have eased somewhat, nobody really wants to be slaving away hours in the kitchen.
So, if you can get a little help along the way, who are we to turn it down? This is where the new Microplane® Gourmet Series Fine Julienne Blade grater comes in.
Microplane® is the first company to apply photo-etching technology to graters. This unique innovation resulted in ultra-sharp cutting edges. The tiny teeth act like extremely sharp knives giving users precise cutting of ingredients.
Normal graters can have a tendency to tear vegetables and make the whole process a bit of a chore. So, when I set up my new kitchen gadget by simply removing a clear protective cover and lined up various vegetables to chop up, I realised how it made light work of everything.
It has a non-slip foot to protect the worktop and provides stability when grating at a 45-degree angle. With no pressure, ingredients slid quickly and easily from the blades without tearing or shredding. Result!
Uniform strips were carved from cabbage, onion, cucumber, courgette, carrot and apple. The device saved me so much time that the fun of slicing everything was over in a flash.
But I was healthier for it as I whizzed up a coleslaw with the cabbage, onion and carrot, made Tzatziki from the cucumber, and courgetti from the courgette. It was rather a feast I must say and beautifully presented.
Cleaning up was a doddle too, unlike a bulky food processor. Whilst dishwasher safe, it can be cleaned quickly by simply rinsing the Microplane® Gourmet Series Fine Julienne Blade under the tap. It also takes up a fraction of space in the cutlery draw, which is ideal when you have a small kitchen like mine.
It has to be said I’m not always that creative in the kitchen (unless I’m baking), but the blade has made me hunt out new recipes I can try because the chopping part will take me a mere few seconds. I’ve got my mindset on creating the classic French carrot salad – a delicate balance of sweet raw carrot, tangy lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard and herbs. Oh, and tiny shards of chocolate on top of puddings won’t go amiss either.
So, who was behind this magnificent tool? In 1994 an anonymous Canadian housewife became so frustrated that her everyday grater was at best, a ripper, shredder and all-around tearer. She took it upon herself to find out if there was something better. She headed off into her husband’s workshop and found one of his favourite woodworking tools. Although not the most obvious choice, she took it to the kitchen to see if it would help her with making an orange cake.
To her surprise, the housewife found that this simple woodworking tool slid across the orange and zest was falling like snowflakes. It was this discovery that spawned the idea of the Microplane® kitchen graters.
One woman’s frustration and experimentation had spawned an entire range of kitchen tools. Fast-forward to today and it’s the preferred choice of cooking enthusiasts and professionals around the world. And if it’s good enough for the professionals, it’s good enough for us.
Microplane® Gourmet Series Fine Julienne Blade – Where and How?
The NEW Microplane® Gourmet Series Fine Julienne Blade grater retails at £24.95 and is available from hartsofstur.com and independent cookshops nationwide. For more information, visit www.microplaneintl.com.
Read more culinary-focused articles in our dedicated section here.
You must be logged in to post a comment.