Grate stuff … a guide to using a box grater
What’s something that almost every kitchen has and that almost every person doesn’t use to its full capacity? The answer is the humble box grater. This handy bit of kitchen kit usually has four sides, although you probably only use one and, if you’re like the majority of people, you probably only use it to grate cheese. But each of the sides serves a purpose and you might be surprised by how versatile the box grater really is.
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This is the side that your probably use most frequently. This site is perfect for grating hard and soft cheeses. If you want to make cheese grating easier, pop the cheese in the freezer for a little while to make it easier to grate. Try spritzing a little spray of cooking oil on the grater to make grating easier and to help with cleaning the grater. As well as cheese, use this side for grating fruit and veg, think apples, carrots, onion, zucchini, potatoes. And if you forget to soften butter before baking, you can grate it to make it easier to add in. |
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One of the most overlooked sides of box graters is the slicing side. Some graters come with a single slicer slot, others have three or more. Use this like a mandoline, to slice raw vegetables such as potato, zucchini, cucumber or radish. It’s a real timesaver if you’re making a potato bake, stirfry or a salad. |
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The side with small star-like holes is ideal for tougher jobs like grating citrus zest, nutmeg, ginger and garlic. The teethlike edges on this side sharp so take care with your fingers! |
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TSimilar to Side 1 but with smaller holes, this side yields fine shavings so it is excellent for chocolate and hard cheeses such as parmesan. Because it creates a smaller shred this is your go-to side for things that you want to melt quickly. If you want to make breadcrumbs you can grate stale or toasted bread here. Use this side for thin shreds of vegetables that you want to incorporate into cooking such as carrot for carrot cake. |
