Graters can be a workhorse in the kitchen—from grating garlic for a weeknight dinner to shaving chocolate on a beautiful dessert, we find ourselves reaching for our graters often. And we've got you covered if you need help deciding which grater you is right for you.
Certain foods and dishes require a fineness achievable only through grating, while other foods just aren’t meant to be grated. Here are 9 things you didn’t know you should be grating:
Grated Butter
If you’re making a homemade pie crust, butter is the key ingredient and the texture of it is one of the most important pieces of the pie. For the flakiest pie crust, you’ll want thin flakes of butter. Our solution: Use a Coarse Grater for small pieces of butter to be tossed with the flour.
Making Homemade Breadcrumbs
Make Homemade Breadcrumbs
Homemade Breadcrumbs
Have a loaf of bread on its last leg? Turn it into homemade breadcrumbs to use on these Olive Oil Brownies with Toasted Breadcrumbs from Bobby Flay or to top a Kale Caesar Salad. Using the coarse side of the Box Grater transforms the loaf into pea-size (or smaller!) crumbs perfect for toasting. Added bonus? The mess is contained in the convenient container at the base of the grater.
This is an obvious one, but all of the different cheese textures a box grater can yield may come as a surprise. There’s fine parmesan (like grocery-store level fine). There’s larger shreds of hard cheeses, like cheddar and pepper jack; great for quesadillas or topping soups. And then there’s slices. Run parmesan on the slicer side of the grater for wafer-thin planks to top salads and pastas.
Grated Chocolate
How to Grate Tomatoes for Sauce
Tomato Sauce from Scratch
Use the coarse surface of the Box Grater for shredding tomatoes to go right in a sauce (it can be a sub for the can of crushed tomatoes in this Back Pocket Tomato Sauce recipe). There’s nothing like fresh sauce for your next pasta dinner
Chocolate Shavings
Upgrade a cup of coffee or a dessert (Ice Cream Cone Pie, anyone?) with chocolate shavings. It looks impressive, but only takes a second.
Shredding Apples
We like shredding apples for desserts or a delicious spiced apple shrub—a drinkable vinegar that’s a crisp, tangy picker-upper of a drink. Plus, get more great ideas for using up apples.
How to Grate Cabbage for Coleslaw
Making a quick slaw for tacos or to add to a salad? The Box Grater should be your friend. Since cabbage can get pretty messy, the storage container helps keep things under control. For bigger jobs, we opt for our spiralizer here.
Want to make the most of your other kitchen tools? Check out these 4 New Ideas for Using Your Swivel Peeler, 5 Creative Ideas for Your Apple Peeler, and Delicious Ideas for Using Your Mandoline.
Zesting Citrus
Have a recipe that calls for lemon zest, like these Lemon Sandwich Cookies? Use a Zester to get the fine, pith-free zest you need. The removable zester from the Box Grater allows you to zest right over a dish with ease.
Grated Potatoes, Carrots and Zucchini
To break down larger vegetables into shreds (think: potato pancakes, shredded carrots for salads and zucchini fritters), we go to our grater for help. The sharp, etched stainless steel grating surface maximizes the output of your produce.
