Reading Time: 5 minutes Simple Kitchen Hack: How I Keep Cheese From Sticking To Cheese Grater
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Shredded cheese is staple in most American refrigerators. Whether it’s tacos, pasta, or salad lots of simple recipes call for shredded cheese. Buying cheese shredded and repacked is easy, grab and go. But, those bags of cheese contain preservatives to keep the cheese from sticking together and last longer.
Buying blocks of cheese and using a grater at home to shred the cheese is less costly per ounce and very easy. The results are cheeses that melt better because of the lack of preservatives.
Using this simple hack makes grating your own cheese even more easy than it was before.
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Why Shred Your Own Cheese?
Opting to shred your own cheese at home rather than purchasing pre-shredded varieties not only offers a fresher taste but also leads to significant cost savings. On average, block cheese can be up to 30% less expensive than its pre-shredded counterpart.
For example, a block of cheddar cheese might cost around $4.00 for eight ounces, whereas an eight-ounce bag of pre-shredded cheddar often costs about $5.50. This price difference accumulates over time, especially for families who use cheese frequently in their meals.
Besides the economic benefits, shredding your own cheese is healthier. Pre-shredded cheese often contains additives like potato starch and natamycin, which are used to prevent clumping and mold growth.
These additives can affect the taste and melting characteristics of the cheese. In contrast, block cheese typically lists milk, cheese cultures, salt, and enzymes as its only ingredients, making it a purer choice for those looking to avoid unnecessary additives in their diet.
By shredding your own cheese, you’ll save money and control the quality and purity of the ingredients in your recipes, ensuring that your family enjoys more natural, wholesome food.
Simple Cheese Grating Hacks: More Cheese Please
I have found that leaving my block of cheese in the fridge until I am ready to shred it makes it hard and easier to glide along the grater.
One of my favorite breakfast casseroles calls for 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. While it’s easy to use bagged cheese, having gooey cheese inside makes the recipe so much better.
Before shredding, use a nonstick cooking spray along the outside of the grater. I like to spray the entire area, ensuring the cheese will glode along easily regardless of where I move the block.
I prefer to use an olive oil spray if I have it on hand.
Once I have sprayed the outside of my grater box, I also spray the inside.
Spraying the inside of the box ensures that once the cheese passes over the blades, it won’t clump on the inside.
The Results are Worth It
The Benefits of Freshly Grated Cheese
Once you have sprayed both the insides and the outsides of the grater box, cut the plastic, peel back your block of cheese, and begin to shred.
I’ve found gliding the cheese from the top of the box to the bottom is better than sliding it down and up.
Because the blades on the block aren’t double sides, gliding the chees on the grater when going up won’t result in a faster shred, it will, however, increase the likeliness that the outside of the grater clump with cheese.
Our family loves homemade pizza night. Everyone gets to make their own pizza, which means we need a lot of cheese. When grating more than a cup or 2 of cheese, I find it most helpful to re-spray the grater between blocks of mozzarella cheese.
Shredding your own cheese always produces cheese that melts better when used in a recipe that involves heat.
Because there aren’t additives and preservatives on the cheese, it’s best to shred the cheese as you need it for your recipe. While you can store it in a sealed glass container, you may find that the shredded cheese will stick together.
This hack will work on all sides of your grater box. It will also work if you are grating veggies such as carrots or zucchini.
Using My Cheese Grater Hack On Vegetables
Not only is this grating hack perfect for cheeses like cheddar and mozzarella, but it also works wonders when you’re preparing vegetables.
The same techniques you apply to cheese can make grating these vegetables easier and cleaner.
When grating vegetables, especially those with higher water content, spraying your grater with nonstick cooking spray can prevent the vegetables from sticking to the blades and the inside of the grater box.
This method ensures smoother grating and a cleaner kitchen tool after use.
For firmer vegetables like carrots, chilling them slightly in the refrigerator before grating can help them maintain their firmness, making them easier to grate finely without turning mushy.
This trick enhances the texture of the grated vegetables, making them perfect for fresh salads, stir-fries, or even as toppings on your favorite dishes.
This simple yet effective hack can also be applied to other foods that require grating or shredding, like hard-boiled eggs for egg salad, potatoes for hash browns, or even frozen butter for pastry dough.
By extending this technique beyond cheese, you simplify preparation across a variety of recipes, making your kitchen time both productive and enjoyable.
Cheese Grating Hack Video
We created this video to show you our cheese grating hack.
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