I got a good offer on all 5 Microplane Master graters for a bundle price and decided to pull the trigger.
I also own a CuisiPro Box grater and the green Microplane Premium grater, which I only use for lime and lemon.
Finally I also own a Microplane dedicated nutmeg grinder - I really love this grater.
Just makes grating nutmeg so easy and precise.
What graters do you own and are they your favourite graters ?
The design of the Microplane Master is very nice, unfortunately only the blade and the wood is from North America, the rest is made and assembled in China, which surprised me quite a bit.
They ship their parts half around the world to have them assembled and then back again.
I try to limit my purchases made in two certain countries (you can guess them), but I find it very hard to live by that rule…when almost everything these days come from that certain country.
I own 4 microplanes: a coarse one like your leftmost, a fine one like the one next to it (my first, and 18 years later, still my best), a slicer like your second-from-right, and a broader slicer that’s great for radishes and suchlike in salads.
Yes, the Microplane Master series have Canadian walnut wooden handles. They do need to be oiled once in a while to stay in great shape.
If I didn’t enjoy the look of this Master series so much, I would have gone with the Microplane Gourmet series for the more ergonomic handle shape in thick rubber.
Certain is available in France, I’ve been gifted the second on your photo. Although I like the look of wood, I ended up using more often the classic one, more comfortable. Maybe I should sand the wood surface? Mine isn’t very smooth. Yes, a bit disappointed that it’s made in China with the price tag.
What’s the difference between the Premium version and the original version (Gourmet)? I got mine pretty early, I find it too complex with all their present collections.
I have a classic box grater for coarser textures, microplanes for ginger, zest and cheese etc, a nutmeg grater and a small grater for pink Himalayas salt but I prefer to use the salt grinder these days. Sometimes, I use peeler for thicker slice of cheese. And, Magimix to grate mainly carrot.
I chose the Master version because I like the look of a wooden handle, I like the mix of matte steel and wood and an even more important feature I forgot to mention - they are stackable.
I can store them in my kitchen cupboard next to the oven I’m quite a small cramped area with all 5 graters stacked upon each other. For me quite an important feature. You can’t do that with the rest of the Microplane models.
And you don’t need to sand them. Just give them a dab of mineral oil once in a while and they’re smooth as silk.
There’s no difference between the Premium and the Gourmet line handle wise.
Three microplanes, one long fine one with no handle purchased when they were not yet a common kitchen tool, a fine one and a coarse one with handles, a small cheese grater with its own box, and a box grater. Of course the FP has a grating disc too.
I also have a ceramic grater (not my picture, but exactly this owl) too which is supposed to be more toward ginger and garlic. I have only used it 3-4 times and still learning if I like it.
I have a couple Microplane graters too, in larger and smaller sizes, a box grater by Cuisipro, and a ceramic grater by Kyocera that is really useful for grating ginger and also hard cheeses like parm and pecorino when you want a powdery texture rather than flaky.
