Ina Garten's Favorite Kitchen Tool For Effortlessly Shredding Tricky Ingredients

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The culinary celebrity and prolific author Ina Garten has some strong opinions about kitchen tools. Garten loves the food processor so much that she thinks it should have its own holiday, for example. She is also, perhaps, the most prominent proponent of giant cocktail shakers. And, when Bon Appétit asked what kitchen tool she couldn't live without in an erstwhile interview, she cited a device that best navigates the contours of things like lemons and limes.

"You know what I love is a rasp," she told Bon Appétit, "because I love the zest of citrus fruit. And actually now I do garlic on the rasp because it grates it so finely," she said. You might be quicker to call the item she's referring to a Microplane, which is actually one brand that managed to attach its name to this particular type of grater. Unlike the four-sided box variety, the handheld rasp is dedicated to the delicate work of grating those very fruits and hard cheeses like Parmesan.

The rasp, or Microplane, is also terrific for grating garlic, as Ina Garten noted when she told Bon Appétit that she'd begun using hers for those alliums, too. It's also tops for making chocolate flakes or even breaking down whole spices like cinnamon sticks and nutmeg. Your tools may vary, but a rasp will typically yield a finer final product than most box graters, rendering things like garlic and ginger nearly into a paste. But their more handheld quality can sometimes feel less stable than the alternative.

The best way to use a rasp is safely. A little more specifically, you'll want to hold it in your non-dominant hand at a slightly downward angle. You might also not want to move at too rapid of a speed, as it's easy to get too close to those hundreds of tiny teeth hungry for your blood. A more studied, steady motion should keep your prints intact.