A little lemon zest goes a long way, according to both professional chefs and home cooks. In general, zest, whether from a fruit rind or a chocolate bar, may enhance the taste of a meal.

There are several options for the finest lemon zester tool, but not all are made equal.

We’ve compiled this list of our best recommendations to help you quickly identify the most useful zesting and grating tools so you can spend less time shopping and more time cooking delicious dishes!

Our Top Picks for the Best Lemon Zesters

1. Deiss PRO Citrus Lemon Zester & Cheese Grater

With the Deiss PRO Citrus Lemon Zester, you can go from zero to zest in 30 seconds. This handy gadget has everything you need to zest and grate like a pro.

One advantage of the Deiss PRO is that it can produce small zest curls with no bitter pith attached. You may easily add a citrus flavor to your favorite recipes, or you can freshly grate spices like cinnamon and ginger to liven up traditional foods. This zester also functions as a cheese and chocolate grater, providing you with even more options for enhancing your cooking and baking.

This item is pleasant and simple to use, with a stainless steel blade, non-slip handle, and distinctive curved, firm sides that let you to apply more power when necessary. With your purchase, you will get a lifetime warranty as well as a Healthy Cooking Tips booklet worth $9.95 totally free!

2. Raniaco Zester Stainless Steel Grater

When it comes to multi-purpose tools, the Raniaco Zester outperforms the finest citrus zester. The stainless steel grater, paired with a rubber base for enhanced grip action, making it easy to grind anything from asiago to apples.

We like this zester since it can grate fruit, vegetables, cheese, chocolate, and spices. You can even grate butter with it! Furthermore, since it is made of high-quality, long-lasting materials, this stainless steel grater will last for many years.

Non-slip silicone feet, ABS plastic finger protection, and a protective plastic cover that turns into a container are all included. Whether you hang it in your kitchen or store it in a drawer, you’ll want quick access to your new favorite gadget.

3. 1Easylife Stainless Steel Lemon Zester

There is more than one way to zest a lemon, as shown by the 1Easylife Zester. Instead of scraping a piece of fruit over a zesting surface, use this handy tool to peel off ultra-thin layers.

This tool, unlike a standard vegetable peeler, has five pointed holes that smooth over the skin to produce zesty garnishes. In addition, there is a built-in channel knife for quickly peeling fruits and vegetables. When you want a thicker zest or to make beautiful curls, the channel knife comes in helpful.

Other features include a rust-resistant stainless steel blade, a satin-finished grip handle, and a hanging hook for quick access in the kitchen or bar. The 1Easylife peeler is tiny and not suited for swiftly producing huge quantities, but it is great for bartenders, cocktail lovers, or home chefs who zest occasionally.

4. Microplane Classic Zester

You don’t always want or need a culinary utensil with all the bells and whistles. The Microplane Classic Zester is designed for zesting citrus and grating cheese. Its razor-sharp teeth quickly shave off the rinds of lemon, lime, and orange and form fluffy heaps of parmesan cheese.

The Microplane Classic Zester helps you to swiftly and effectively increase the taste and fragrance of your meals by zesting and grating fruit without damaging it or removing superfluous portions, such as the harsh white pith of a lemon.

The zester is rust-free and sharp thanks to medical grade stainless steel. It is also dishwasher safe and may be readily cleaned by hand after use by properly washing it.

5. JOFUYU Lemon Zester & Cheese Grater

Because of its size, JOFUYU Lemon Zester made our list. If you are a passionate chef or baker who often uses zest in recipes, you will appreciate the breadth and length of this vital culinary tool. The JOFUYU zester is about one foot long (not counting the handle) and can be easily positioned over a mixing bowl or cooking pot.

It has a stainless steel square blade that makes cleanup virtually trivial. Speaking of effortless, several reviews compliment the zester’s non-slip grip, rubber stand, and sharp blades for making it simple to use. You won’t have to apply much, if any, pressure on the tool to achieve the right zest or grated cheese.

Furthermore, the JOFUYU Lemon Zester has a hook for hanging to conserve kitchen space, as well as a plastic container for keeping in a drawer. You will also get a little brush to aid in the removal of hard food particles from the grater.

6. AdeptChef Citrus Lemon Zester & Cheese Grater

It’s always good to discover a high-quality, professional kitchen gadget at a reasonable price, and we did just that with the AdeptChef Citrus Lemon Zester and Cheese Grater. It boasts a basic yet functional design, a long lifespan, and a pleasant grip.

This zester is composed of stainless steel, like other zesters, but unlike some zesters, the grating teeth do not clog up as often and can be rapidly cleaned by running the surface under water. The small design saves kitchen drawer space, and the blades are protected from blunting over time by a plastic cover.

We also like that the organization guarantees 100% client satisfaction. If you are not fully satisfied with your purchase, they will refund or replace it without question.

7. BelleGuppy Lemon Zester & Cheese Grater

The BelleGuppy brand zester is the last but not least in our list of the top 7 best lemon zesters. This zester-grater combination has many of the same qualities as other zesters (stainless steel, sharp blades, solid construction), but it has the advantage of being very successful at zesting and grating almost any food item.

You can zest a lemon with one swipe, grate hard cheeses, chocolate, and almonds, and make fine slices of ginger without zesting your knuckles with the BelleGuppy. This tool is capable of zesting and grating tiny and big pieces, which many comparable zesting tools are incapable of.

A snap-on cover and a cleaning brush are included with the package.

Buyer’s Checklist of Important Features

A lemon zester may seem to be a simple tool, and for the most part, it is, but with so many brands on the market, it may be difficult to discover and purchase the correct one for your kitchen requirements.

Don’t be concerned! We go through the elements to consider when purchasing a zester in our helpful buyers checklist. When comparison shopping, keep these factors in mind to help you make the best selection and obtain precisely what you want.

Quality

Quality over quantity is an important maxim to follow when acquiring anything. Any object that is well-built and made of high-quality materials will last longer, which means you will not have to replace it as often, saving you money.

When looking for a high-quality citrus zester, consider the material and make sure it comes from a reputable brand and manufacturer. It is also crucial to realize that price does not necessarily imply quality. All of the goods featured in our evaluations provide excellent value for money.

Ease of Cleaning

Whether you spend the bulk of your time in the kitchen or consider yourself a casual chef, you don’t always have the time or patience to thoroughly clean your kitchen devices.

It is important to seek for a lemon zester that will save you time while cleaning. For utmost convenience, look for a dishwasher-safe zester, and consider choosing tools made of stainless steel, which are rust-resistant and easy to clean by hand.

Grip

The sharp surface of a lemon zester is the most noticeable characteristic, but the grip should not be disregarded. A decent quality handle is crucial for safety and greatly simplifies zesting and grating.

Look for grips constructed of non-slip material so that you have ample leverage when using it. This is particularly helpful for zesting or grating harder foods, such as cheese.

A solid grip prevents injury and makes the zesting procedure as simple and pleasant as possible.

Sharpness

The sharpness of a zester should be determined by the kind of food being zested. A grate with more than one blade is usually unnecessary for soft consumables like fruit and certain seasonings. More difficult foods, such as coconut, cocoa, and cheese, will almost certainly need the use of many blades.

Multiple sharp blades will demand less work from you, but you must exercise extreme caution not to cut yourself in the process. Sharpness is especially important if you use your zester often since the sharper it is, the longer it will take to dull.

Zest Type

The sort of zester you need is determined on what you are cooking or baking. Zesters vary in blade strength, sharpness, and design, and each model produces a distinct kind of zest.

Some items, for example, are especially developed for zesting citrus fruits such as lemons and limes and will not work as well on chocolate. If your recipes call for zesting delicate foods like fruit or more decorative zests, youll want to invest in a zester designed exclusively for such goods.

If your cooking or baking requires grated items, such as nuts or cheese, you should invest in a zester-grater combination with a sharp and sturdy stainless steel surface.

Many of the lemon zesters in our evaluation are dual-purpose and can handle both types of zesting.

How to Properly Use a Lemon Zester

Although using a zester is simple, you will need to master a few strategies, tips, and tricks to obtain the best results.

Using a Lemon Zester: The Basics

Grip the zester with your dominant hand while holding the lemon over a chopping board, mixing dish, plate, etc. Drag the lemon down on the blades with some force.

Colorful sections of the peel (rind) should break loose. Continue until the pith (the white portion underneath the rind) is revealed and most of the peel has been removed. Look behind the blades to see if there is any leftover zest. Tap the zester gently on the chopping board to release the peels.

Can You Use a Cheese Grater to Zest Lemon?

Yes, you can zest fruit using a grater, but it is not advised since most graters cannot efficiently separate the peel from the pith or make fine particles of zest.

Furthermore, you increase your chances of accidently sliding your hand down the grater, which might result in damage.

Cleaning a Lemon Zester

If you get a lemon zester made of high-quality, rust-proof material, such as stainless steel, you will need very little maintenance to maintain this kitchen essential in top condition. However, you will still need to clean the zester thoroughly to ensure that the chromium coating remains robust and the instrument remains bacteria-free.

If the zester is dishwasher-safe, you may wash it after each use. You should pre-clean it by running it under hot water and gently washing with dish soap. If the zest becomes caught on the blades, use a kitchen or vegetable brush to remove it.

Avoid using scouring pads or stainless steel wool to clean the zester. These materials are often overly abrasive and may wear away the zester’s protective layer.

If cleaning by hand, wash the zester with warm water and dish soap before drying with a clean cloth. When putting the tool in a drawer or hanging it in your kitchen, it is advised that you store it in a protective cover. The cover keeps the blades sharp and prevents finger injuries. It’s ideal to keep the zester in a cold, dry area to minimize moisture damage.

Using Lemon Zest

Because the lemon peel contains all of the essential oil, zesting it allows you to extract the entire taste of the fruit and utilize the slivers to enliven a meal.

A competent lemon zester will carefully remove the rind from the fruit, resulting in beautiful curls of rind zest to sprinkle on top of or bake into a range of meals and sweets.

You should not be frightened to think beyond the box. Sprinkle lemon shavings on top of a dish of vanilla ice cream, or infuse a pot of rice with a touch of lemon zest. You may also add some citrus to a normal glass of water.

Is It Safe to Zest a Waxed Lemon?

While it is safe to zest and eat the protective wax covering on lemons, zesting a wax-free lemon is considerably simpler. There are many methods for removing the wax coating:

• Place the lemons in a colander, cover with boiling water, and scrape the peel with a vegetable brush. Rinse and pat dry.
• Microwave the lemons for up to 20 seconds on a microwave-safe dish (do not stack). Scrub the area with cool, running water. Rinse and pat dry.
• In a spray bottle, combine one part white distilled vinegar and three parts water to make a fruit and vegetable wash. Spray the lemons with the mixture and let aside for two to five minutes. Scrub, rinse with cold water, and pat dry.

You may also purchase organic lemons that have already been dewaxed.

Preserving Lemon Zest

By freezing the zested peels, you may always have citrus zest on hand.

1. Arrange the zest on a piece of parchment or waxed paper in a single layer.
2. Place in the freezer.
3. Transfer the frozen zest to a zip-top plastic bag and identify it with the date and the kind of zest (lemon, lime, orange, etc.).
4. Store in the freezer for up to three weeks.

Because frozen zest retains its taste, it does not need to be thawed before use.

What Can I Do with a Zested Lemon?

If you don’t want to purchase fruit only for the peel, you may always squeeze the citrus after zesting and conserve the juice for a salad dressing or lemonade. Naked lemons are also delicious when roasted alongside a chicken.

Conclusion

With so many wonderful alternatives on the market, it was difficult to choose the best of the best, but after carefully researching each device, we decided on the JOFUYU Lemon Zester & Cheese Grater.

The JOFUYU brand lemon zester has so many positive reviews that it’s difficult to dismiss it as the greatest lemon zester tool money can buy. It has all of the amazing attributes that a zester should have: stainless steel blades, sharpness, a long-lasting design that is easy to clean, and it is safe to use. Furthermore, the larger length and surface breadth make zesting simple, breezy, and lemon squeezy!

Although we strongly suggest this product, we recognize that everyone has different demands, so keep yours in mind when comparing prices. Consider your kitchen and cooking style, and seek for a lemon zester with features that will make your life simpler and your food taste better.

Zest away!

See Also:

• Best Lemon Squeezer
• Best Microplane Zester