There are essential tools when it comes to preparing cheese and two of them are the cheese slicer and the cheese grater. These utensils help in cutting and shredding cheese easily without making much mess. Most kitchens have at least one cheese grater and slicer. However, these tools come in different types and uses.
Cheese Graters
Cheese graters are very useful kitchen utensil because it can help you prepare a meal and put a finishing touch to it easily. It can be used to grate, shred, zest, and slice cheese as well as other foods such as fruits, chocolates, nuts, and vegetables. There are different types of cheese graters and each of them produce different results.
- Box Grater: this type of grater is good for shredding hard and soft cheeses. It usually has three to four different grating sizes and some have a removable storage container to catch the grated cheese. The side with large holes can also be used to grate harder foods like potatoes for hash browns. The side with tiny holes can be used for grating fine Parmesan cheese.
- Handheld Grater: If you’ll be shredding a small amount of cheese into a bowl or pot, it’s best to use this type of grater. It only has a single hole size. It can also be used in grating chocolate and coconut.
- Rotary Grater: this type of grater is more knuckle-friendly compared to the other graters because it’s cylindrical grater plate doesn’t get close to the fingers. If you want to achieve a perfect dusting of Parmesan cheese over pasta, then this grater is perfect for you.
- Microplane Grater: this type of grater enables you to shred hard cheese in both directions. It will provide you with a super fine cheese texture but it can’t be used in grating soft cheeses. It is useful in grating cheese finely over pastas. It can also zest fruits, ginger, and garlic.
- Food Processor Grater: using a food processor can be the easiest and fastest way of grating large amount of cheese. It is safe to use as well. But it’s not practical to purchase one if you’re just going to use in to grate cheese. It’s very useful if you need to shred lots of cheeses.
- Boska Cheese Grater: If you’re going to grate soft and very hard cheese, this type is best for you. It has a sharp grating surface which can shred soft cheese finely and hard cheese easily. It is easy to use and it has a unique non-stick formula to avoid the cheese to be stuck in the holes. It is also small, therefore, it’s easier to store compared to other types of cheese graters.
Cheese Slicers
Cheese slicers are used to cut hard cheeses. They are much easier and safer to use compared to a traditional sharp knife. There are three types of cheese slicers which are made for different kinds of cheese.
- Wire Cheese Slicer: this cheese slicer is composed of a cutting board which can be the container of the cheese and an attached arm with a wire which is responsible in cutting the cheese evenly. This cheese slicer will allow you to cut large amount of cheese neatly. It is also useful in slicing harder cheese. However, it’s kind of difficult to store because it takes more room because of its size.
- Cheese Plane: this type of cheese slicer has a hole above the blade which lets the cheese slices pass through easily. It is useful in slicing large blocks of hard cheese thinly which are mostly placed in burgers and sandwiches.
- Rolling Cheese Cutter: this type of cheese slicer is composed of a solid handle which is a T-shape, a roller, and a wire which is responsible in slicing the cheese. The wire is made of stainless steel. It enables you to cut the cheese in whatever thickness you prefer. It is useful in slicing soft and semi-hard cheese.
It’s amazing to know that there are different types of slicers and graters for different kinds of cheese. Most of us might be using only one slicer and grater at home. Now that you know the different types of cheese slicers and graters, maybe you might want to try each one out.