Microplane®,  grater people par excellence, have come out with some new kitchen must haves.

‘How black could it be? Answer none, none more black’. Thus mused Nigel Tufnel as he inspected the cover of Spinal Tap’s new album. He would have loved the new Microplane®  Black Sheep range.

So black it seems bottomless, the Black Sheep graters feature a matt black stainless steel handle, frame and blade. That’s an awful lot of black.

Even the box they come in is a sensual feast, the material is almost rubber-like to the touch. Black rubber? This is getting a bit dark.

What of the performance though? Well these are Microplane® , beloved by professional chefs for their unique photoetched technology blades and teeth like sharp knives that cut effortlessly, without ripping or tearing and so releasing the ingredients’ natural aromas.

Take your pick from a grate selection, the classic, long, narrow Zester which is perfect for all citrus fruits (avoiding the bitter white pith), ideal for quickly pureeing garlic and brilliant at creating clouds of fluffy parmesan.

The paddle-shaped graters include Fine for grating aromatics and spices, Coarse for larger texture grating, such as hard cheese, Extra Coarse for grating root vegetables and a Ribbon blade for creating chocolate decorative finishes.

All are easily cleaned simply by rinsing under the tap

The graters are all coated in velvety PVD for extra-scratch resistance and they have rubber feet so they don’t slip when in use, whatever angle you hold them at.

There really isn’t a grate deal you can’t do with these black beauties, whether cooking savoury, sweet or baking, and if you’ve got a super-minimalist cool kitchen you’re going to want them hanging up on public show, not buried in a drawer.

Although if you do put them in a drawer their low profile means they won’t take up too much space, while their protective covers keep you, and them, safe.

You can get back into black at Divertimenti