ZylissRestaurant Cheese Grater - Gift for Cooks - Culinary Chef Gift - Handheld Rotary Grater - Cheese, Vegetable, and Nut Shredder for Right- & Left-Handed Cooks - NSF Restaurant Certified - White

Feels really sturdy. Used it today, worked really well. Grandson loved it. Came apart easily for cleaning.

As the name suggests it's GRATE (and great!). Does the job well holding up to hard cheeses like parmesan and grates with ease. Clean up is easy and we've found that there is not a lot of "trapped cheese" (cheese that hets stuck in different parts of the grater). Overall, good choice!

Yes, I like this cheese grater. It works well, it's durable, and it's a good value with the price. Now I want to tell you about Italian restaurants and cheese.Most Italian restaurants have a shaker jar of grated cheese on the table. When you sit down at the table, unscrew the lid of this jar and take some cheese out with a spoon. Then put some between your thumb and your index finger, and squeeze. If the cheese sticks together in a clump, it's good fresh cheese. However, if it if it does not clump together when you squeeze it, it's either old, stale cheese, or it's that tasteless, pre-grated, store bought stuff that contains up to 50% cellulose (wood) which serves as an anti-clumping agent. If this is the case, just get up and leave without ordering. If this is the best the restaurant can do with its grated cheese, it's a good indication that the restaurant does not serve high-quality Italian food.Now, here's some information about which Italian cheese you may want to buy for grating. Most people just refer to all of these Cheese's as Parmesan cheese. There are, in fact, three distinct types of Italian cheese to use for grating. The first, and mildest cheese, is called Romano.Next, is Parmesan cheese. Although many people use the term parmesan to refer to any Italian cheese used for grating, it is actually a specific type of cheese. It's a sharper cheese than the Romano, but not the sharpest Italian cheese.The Italian cheese that has the sharpest flavor, is called Lucatelli. Of course, in order to find this cheese, you'll have to go to an Italian deli that Imports many of its products. If you have a Little Italy in your town, this is where you'll most likely find an Italian deli. In San Diego, where I live, there's an Italian Restaurant and Deli in Little Italy called Filippi's.As I'm sure you already know, a hard cheese can last virtually forever in a refrigerator. It's important though, to wrap it in plastic and not paper. Otherwise the refrigerator will dry it out. I'm only telling you this because most Italian delis will wrap the cheese in paper and not plastic. And, if you keep the cheese in a block and only grate it when you use it, it will stay fresh forever.Because a hard cheese will not go bad in the refrigerator, you don't have to wash your Zyliss grater every time you use it. All you have to do is put your Zyliss grater in a ziplock bag with your cheese and put it in the refrigerator. There's no need to wash it if the cheese on it isn't going to go bad. (Yes Mom, I know I should wash it anyway.)Lastly, here's a tip for how to grate a soft cheese. In descriptions of cheese graters, it will usually say somewhere that it's not possible to great a soft cheese. Not true. If you ever want to grate a soft cheese, all you have to do is freeze it first. If you're using a cheese grater like the Zyliss that has a small compartment to put the cheese into, it's best to cut the cheese into pieces before you freeze it. This is because it's a lot harder to cut it into pieces after it's frozen.Bon appetit.

I bought this because my Microplane rotary grater broke, and the latter is no longer available for purchase (why???). I use it exclusively for hard parmesan cheese.The Zyliss grater has many similarities with the Microplane grater, and they both work pretty well, although they both have the same defect: they flex a lot and are fragile. Note that, unlike most other rotary graters on the market, the Zyliss grater has the same acid-etched microblades as the Microplane. These make a HUGE difference. The microblades are far superior to the conventional blades, both for ease of grating (requiring less pressure and torque, and allowing greater speed), and quality of the result (thin slivers of cheese instead of rough fragments).Given that these blades work so well, it is annoying that nobody is selling a sturdier grater with them. A user of either grater needs to place their thumb directly over the cheese pusher to apply the correct force, because the handle flexes too much. Similarly, the user must be careful about how they hold the side handle (the part that rotates) in order to apply a clean torque to the cylinder, without sideways forces that can make the side handle break off. This can be learned, but never perfectly, and makes the device fragile, especially in inexperienced hands.Compared to the Microplane grater (see photo: the Zyliss grater is the white one on the left) this feels slightly sturdier, but it is probably more fragile, because the torque is transmitted via a small shaft rather than along the entire side of the cylinder. The cylinder is slightly smaller, and so is the surface available for grating. There are fewer blades on the Zyliss, and they are larger. Thus the Zyliss is smaller and slower, and the cheese flakes are larger. I prefer the smaller flakes from the Microplane, but I am also happy with the larger ones.Unless the Microplane becomes available again, this is the one to buy. The flat graters are OK but much less convenient, and one cannot shave the crust as far without risking their fingertips.

With a bit of effort grates 10 year aged Parmesan, cheese hard like a rock. Looks well made, white reenforced plastic of sorts with a scary sharp stainless drum and a soft rubber like material on the handle end. One drawback, when grating aged cheese, the drum puts a lot of pressure on the handle/drum connection, a coarse thread like connection that becomes very very tight and difficult to undo for cleaning. Under “normal” circumstances, its easy to clean, the loading area is big enough for a good chunk of cheese, about 60 by 45mm.

Love it, it works great. I just wish it fit a slightly bigger piece of cheese it in. It is easy the clean.

I purchased this as a cheese grater. It did not disappoint. Frankly, I was impressed that if you’re a righty or a lefty, you can still use this item. It’s designed to just switch the handle around. Easy to use, clean, and store. What else can I say?