The channel knife and zester
From The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails
are used to create different types of cocktail garnishes. The knife has, instead of a traditional blade, a small, raised scoop with a sharp edge that will—when it is pulled over the face of a lemon, lime, or other citrus fruit—dig into the rind and create a beautifully long strand of peel, only 3–5 millimeters wide. The zester is also a small hand tool with a line of small, sharp-edged cutting holes. It can be used like the channel knife but creates more delicate strands of the colored zest and without any of the pith.
See also garnish.
DearMartiniKitchen. “How to Use a Channel Knife.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYtUR4zZMdk (accessed February 23, 2021).
Dietsch, Michael. “Knives You Need to Make Drinks.” Serious Eats, June 16, 2011. http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2011/06/cocktail-101-knives-for-cocktails.html (accessed February 23, 2021).
Morgenthaler, Jeffrey. “The Channel Knife.” Jeffrey Morgenthaler website, April 7, 2006. http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2006/the-channel-knife/ (accessed February 23, 2021).
By: Dale DeGroff
This definition is from The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails, edited by David Wondrich (Editor-in-Chief) and Noah Rothbaum (Associate Editor).