Are you putting your cheese grater to full use? These humble kitchen tools have many more uses than many of us realise. Below are some of the great ways to use a grater within your cooking.
Shredded cheese
Let’s start with the most obvious use for a cheese grater – which is of course grating cheese. You can buy bags of pre-shredded cheese, however fresh grated cheese always tastes better. Shredded cheese can be added to cold dishes like salads, or added to hot dishes to create melted cheese. It’s best to use hard cheeses like cheddar or gouda – however you can still grate soft cheeses like mozzarella and brie by freezing them first.
Lemon zest
The grated rind of a lemon or lime can provide a distinctive zesty taste to various dishes. Simply take a lemon or lime with the skin still on and grate the rind finely into a bowl. Some of the most common uses for grated lemon zest include cakes, curries, stir fries and lemon chicken seasoning. You can also add lemon zest to various cocktails.
Breadcrumbs
While you can buy packets of breadcrumbs, there is an easy DIY option: toast a slice of bread and use a grater to make your own crumbs. There are many uses for breadcrumbs including mac and cheese, seafood dishes, gratin and meatballs.
Grated veggies
When it comes to finely cutting up veggies, don’t try to use a knife. A grater is a much easier tool for creating shaved carrots for salads or grated potatoes for hash browns. You can also grate up zucchini to add to cakes – this is a trick that some bakers use to add moisture to cake sponge.
Finely chopped onions
If you need to finely cut up an onion, but don’t have time to do it the traditional way, you can always use a grater. All you have to do is take the skin off and then you’re ready to grate away. You could find that your eyes sting a little more when grating an onion as opposed to slicing it, so bear this in mind.
Hard butter
Need to use some butter, but it’s too hard to use a knife? Don’t have time to take it out the fridge and let it soften? Here’s a useful hack: grate it. You’ll struggle to grate butter out of a tub, but it is a great solution for using sticks of butter. You can even grate it onto toast and let it melt just like cheese.
Chocolate shavings
Chocolate shavings can be sprinkled onto various desserts to make them all the more tasty. A simple way to create these shavings is to take a bar of chocolate and grate some of it into a bowl. This works best on chocolate that has been kept in the fridge as it will then be hard enough to grate.
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