Developed for the woodshop... perfected for the kitchen. With patented cutting edges originally designed for shaving wood, the 40000 series Microplane graters are the original woodworking/kitchen tools. The graters are easy to use and dishwasher-safe. The blades are made from surgical grade stainless steel. It started out in 1990, merely as a new type of woodworking tool with hundreds of tiny stainless steel razors designed to shape or to file wood.
Company History
The big moment came in 1994, when Lorraine Lee, a homemaker in Ottawa, Canada, was making an Armenian orange cake. Out of frustration with her old grater, she picked up a new tool her husband, Leonard, had brought home from their hardware store, Lee Valley Tools. She slid the orange across its blades and was amazed. Lacy shards of zest fell from its surface like snowflakes. The Lees marveled at the tool, ate the cake, then promptly changed the product description in their catalogue. The Microplane grater had earned permanent space in the kitchen.
No matter the shape: box, flat, or rotary, the graters currently sold in shops around the world have been made the same for hundreds of years. The cutting edges are formed by punching holes into flat or curved stainless steel or tin. Grating anything firmer than cheddar cheese is a real chore.
Microplane graters' tiny razor-like edges are formed by a totally different process called photo-etching in which holes are dissolved with a chemical, leaving edges that finely slice the food (or wood!) instead of tearing or shredding.
