zester

British  

/ ˈzɛstə /

noun

1. a kitchen utensil used to scrape fine shreds of peel from citrus fruits

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Explanation

A zester is a kitchen tool that you use to take the outer part of a citrus fruit's rind off so that it can be used to flavor a dish. The zest of a citrus fruit is the very outer, colored part of its skin, which holds a lot of flavor. But it's hard to just get the very top layer off the fruit, which is why there is a zester. This utensil usually has a handle and a head with small, sharp holes or teeth. By dragging the tool across the surface of a lemon, lime, or orange, the zest is shaved off in fine strands or tiny curls, leaving behind the bitter white pith.

Example Sentences

"I'll carefully wrap up my chef's knife and nestle it into my favorite dutch oven along with my three other essential kitchen tools: a zester, a stick blender and a pepper grinder," she writes.

From Salon • Jan. 9, 2022

Using a microplane zester, remove the zest from one lime and reserve.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 22, 2019

Using a Microplane zester, finely grate the garlic, ginger and the lime’s zest directly on top.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2019

Use a Microplane zester to grate the cheese over the pasta.

From Washington Post • Oct. 16, 2018

Most products created by designers are used relatively infrequently by their owners — the lemon zester you buy and then pull out twice a year.

From The Verge • Aug. 6, 2014