Shredding in style – a slice of kitchen life

Options abound for chewing food into the right bits

Who knew there were so many options for shredding cheese, zesting a lemon and grating nutmeg into fine powder?

Graters come in every imaginable size and shape: some are flat with a long handle for grating over a plate or saucepan; others are big and boxy with multiple sides, each with a different size blade for fine or coarse shredding.

There are even slim, ruler-like graters, known as rasps or microplanes, with super-sharp bi-directional steel blades that can turn blocks of rock-hard Parmesan into fluffy wisps of cheese.

To help contain the mess, there are graters with built-in containers to catch and store the shredded foods, and others that fold down flat for easy storage.

Wary of slicing your fingers? With rotary graters, the blades are located inside a small drum, and there’s a crank handle that you turn to shred the food.

Here’s what’s available in kitchen graters:

Box Graters

The most common kitchen grater, it has three or four sides, each with different-sized holes for fine to coarse grating. A space hog, it is usually made of stainless steel.

Hand Graters

A flat, one-sided grater with a handle for shredding small amounts. It can be held directly over a plate or pot while grating.

Rotary Graters

A drum-style grater — you place a wedge of cheese or chocolate inside, then turn the crank handle to shred. The blades are safely housed inside and can be removed for easy cleaning.

Microplane s

Similar in design to a wood-planing rasp, this grater is a long, straight, metal blade used to shred everything from hard cheeses to lemons, limes and oranges.

Mandoline

Flat, one-sided grater with multiple, interchangeable blades for shredding everything from cabbage and carrots to slicing cucumbers and onions.

S pice Grater

Small grater riddled with fine holes for grating nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger into powder.