OXO Good Grips - Etched Zester Grater

I love this zester grater! Feels good to the hand, zests easy, and cleans up well. This is not a small grater which is nice zesting large lemons or other fruits. High quality. You can never go wrong with the OXO brand!

We're quite big fans of the easy-to-grip, rubbery handle style of utensils in this house, despite the higher price tags. This is a relatively fine zester that has met all my needs so far, works well, and is easier to clean than some of the others I've used.Now, I used a box grater with a "zesting" side for many years (and I use that term "zesting" loosely, because it wasn't as fine as I'd expect a true "zester" to be). So if you're making rubs, and externally-applied marinades, or throwing it into a broth for your slow-cooked lamb shanks, that's completely fine. However, when we got into making French lemon-zest flavoured cream-filled pastries, and/or Chocolatier-style activities were texture REALLY matters... or when I was making marinades that WON'T block our ... MoreWe're quite big fans of the easy-to-grip, rubbery handle style of utensils in this house, despite the higher price tags. This is a relatively fine zester that has met all my needs so far, works well, and is easier to clean than some of the others I've used.Now, I used a box grater with a "zesting" side for many years (and I use that term "zesting" loosely, because it wasn't as fine as I'd expect a true "zester" to be). So if you're making rubs, and externally-applied marinades, or throwing it into a broth for your slow-cooked lamb shanks, that's completely fine. However, when we got into making French lemon-zest flavoured cream-filled pastries, and/or Chocolatier-style activities were texture REALLY matters... or when I was making marinades that WON'T block our injector needle on our smoked briskets, we needed something that ground things down to a finer powder/paste to encourage "smoothness" while enhancing the aroma and flavour. So far, this fits the bill.I wouldn't go so far as to call this a micro zester, but it's more than fine enough for most things we'd do in a typical day when a grater is too coarse.SOME NOTES ABOUT THE DESIGN:However, unlike some planes/graters where the the "cutters" are shaped much like the roof of the Sydney Opera House, where the sides curve down to meet the flat zester surface, providing some protection against "heavier forces" and the resulting deformation... the cutting edges on this zester are more rectangular tabs that a folded up and out of rectangular holes. The sides of each protrusion is completely open. This means that it's possible to fold the "tabs" back/down if you grind it hard like some might on a grater. So I'd definitely recommend you scrape your food in one direction only, with very little pressure. As you should with any zester if you want it to last. Honestly, I'd humbly encourage you to start kids and other less-gentle chefs on the coarser graters where they can't do much damage, or give them a quick demonstration before unleashing them on this somewhat-more-precise/delicate implement.The tab-based design is not all bad though, those tabs make cleaning it a LOT easier because the gaps can be attacked from a variety of angles (even if it needs to be done more gently). In fact, I find running water over the grater immediately after use flushes most citrus rind debris out, and if anything has hardened on it, I soak it in a glass of water first, then run the water.. maybe use light strokes using a dish washing brush to get it clean after that. No notable damage or issues noticed so far, and I've used it about two dozen times as we preserve our Autumnal citrus harvest.I like the rubbery handle, it is easy to hold. The protective guard clips on and off quite easily, and is essential if you plan to keep this zester in a drawer.I really have no complaints about this zester at all, and it works well for the money.All the best in your zesting endeavours!

This zester is a good, decent zester, nothing particularly spectacular. This is a review for the medium zester of the crew. It provides a sizable zest where it would be visible in the food (such as cupcakes, for example), so if you want the flavor without seeing it, I would go with the fine zester over the medium one. I have large hands so the handle is comfortable for me, but I can see somebody with smaller hands struggling to hold it comfortably. The blade area is a great size, without being too bulky. The blades do have a low profile, which makes it less likely to cut you, but because of that, I had to push down on the food a little harder than I normally do with my other [smaller] zester. Overall, it does the trick.