Ateco Professional Chocolate Shaver for Baking & Desserts - Stainless Steel Chocolate Grater for Cakes, Hot Cocoa, and Garnishing

I only tried this item on some Valharona dark chocolate, which might not be a fair trial. Another chocolate product may be easier to shave or curl. This was not. It didn’t curl at all. It just flaked off.Being in food service for over thirty years, my kitchen is loaded with too many gadgets, appliances, and books to count. This little gem is my favorite and gets used several times a day and is my favorite gift item to friends and family who enjoy cooking.Originally, I bought one when visiting my brother in New York on a five restaurant a day diet/binge. I was planning a wine dinner built around black truffles and was trying to find a good truffle shaver. All sorts of expensive mini mandolins to be sure but then I found this inexpensive item. Yes it shaves chocolate and truffles, but it works great on razor thin to thicker slices of, garlic, cucumber, carrots, ginger (slide with the grain), celery, parmesan, etc. Two points. First, do NOT wash in the dishwasher! This will prematurely dull the blade. Second, with the hand holding the shaver, once you've dialed in the thickness you like, use your forefinger from underneath to push up on the blade to keep it consistently at the desired thickness.Bought several on Amazon to give as gifts and they love it.UPDATE: I purchased another just like it and it is just as awesome. This one hasn't fallen apart yet either (See previous review below).Previous review: I love this for my garlic. However, it just fell apart after less than 2 years. Broke my heart. I just can't find another one that I liked as much as this. I would give 5 stars but as it fell apart in under 2 years I can't.If I could figure out how to put it back together and find another small screw it would be greatI haven't used this for chocolate, as I haven't figured out a way to hold the chocolate without it melting.HOWEVER, what I do use this for is slicing really thin slivers of garlic, mainly for frying in butter to use as a topping on steaks. This excels at that task! My only gripe with it is that sometimes the adjusting screw that holds the blade on the body of the shaver will work its way out and fall into the food you're preparing.It took some figuring out as to how to control the thinness, but it works. Not a product that I, personally, will get a lot of use from, but I'm glad I have it on hand for when I do.This is a good, flexible tool. I got it for truffles but also ended up using it for chocolate, and you can easily adjust the thickness of the shavings, however it broke after 2 weeks, I was able to reassemble it, but it wasn't particularly easy and it doesn't fill me with confidence about the product's quality long term.These work well for shaving chocolate in small amount. If you were trying to make hot chocolate from scratch and were using these to get a block on nice chocolate into shavings, you will regret not choosing a different tool. This is really well suited for added a small handful of shavings to whatever you are making. The tool is sharp enough, but it's a lot more work to do large quantities with a cheese grater or a food processor.does what it needs toThe screw broke loose and the screw snapped , still used it