Does anybody really enjoy grating cheese? The box grater may be simple, but isn’t the easiest kitchen device to use — and each time you pull it out, there’s always the fear you’ll end up with skin in your mac and cheese. Then there’s the mess … and cleaning all that cheese residue out from the blades, too. But if you love cheesy dishes, your kitchen isn’t complete without one.
What if we told you you’d been grating cheese wrong your entire life? And if you made one simple adjustment, it would make cheese-grating a whole different experience?
A couple of years ago, a tattoo artist from England named Bea Symons went viral for uploading her cheese-grating method to Twitter. Instead of holding the box grater upright, she turned it on its side. Just take a look at this…
Ok, I was today years old when I found out THIS is how a cheese grater is used !? I feel a fool pic.twitter.com/OwE0Cvm8ZO
— ð ð¢ð (@beasymss) October 12, 2018
She is showing a video from the Instagram account @menuserved, a food blog that no longer exists. Good thing she preserved this hack!
It’s so simple, but it works. That’s because you can move your block of cheese horizontally when the appliance is on its side. This means the shredded cheese drops into the body of the grater, which makes it much easier to transfer into a bowl when you’re done. You’ve got more control this way, and there’s no risk of scraping your knuckles!
The cheese lovers of Twitter were delighted with Symons’ tip. “Wow — my life is now complete,” wrote one user, while another revealed that he had recently discovered the same hack. “I did this the other day, and was thinking why was I so stupid before,” he commented. And of course, there were plenty of gifs, because sometimes words just can’t express how you feel.
Alas, you still have to clean the box grater when you’re done with it (unless you can persuade someone else to do it for you, perhaps in exchange for another helping of grilled cheese). If you’re on dish duty, one thing that might help with the task is a pastry brush. According to Good Housekeeping, running the bristles of a dry pastry brush back and forward along the grater is the best way to dislodge all those cheesy remnants.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
