I think most people already own a cheese grater, but I bet they are outdated and don’t work very well. In this article, I will talk about the differences between pre-shredded cheese and grating your cheese along with a review of a TX Foodie favorite Rotary Cheese Grater.
Lately, while making recipes that ask for shredded cheese, I have noticed they ask for “freshly grated” cheese. This got me to thinking why does it matter cheese is cheese. Wrong! I looked at the ingredients of a block of cheddar cheese and then a bag of pre-shredded cheese from the same brand. Shockingly the shredded cheese had these additional ingredients potato starch, powdered cellulose, and natamycin.
Let’s break down these extra ingredients.
- Potato Starch is a starch that gets extracted from potatoes. Potato Starch prevents caking and reduces sweating in shredded cheese.
- Cellulose is a plant fiber that is added to foods to give texture and bulk. It also keeps shredded cheeses from clumping together.
- Natamycin is a mold inhibitor and extends the shelf life of shredded cheese.
Here are two benefits to using freshly grated cheese instead of pre-packaged shredded cheese. It is cheaper to shred your cheese, and it has a little longer shelf life then the shredded cheeses with the added natamycin. You will also get twice as much cheese by volume from a sixteen-ounce block of cheese compared to a sixteen-ounce bag of cheese.
Now that we are ready to grate our cheese, let’s talk about a cheese grater that will out grate your old box cheese grater. I was introduced to this cheese grater by my sister. She grates all her cheese because her family five loves cheese, so it’s cheaper to shred it. I tried hers out, and it was so easy to use and even to clean it. A week went by after we got home from my sisters, and guess what arrived in the mail? Yep, a cheese grater!
Four Things To Look For In A Rotary Cheese Grater
- Sharp Blades – You want a rotary grater to have sharp blades so that when you grate your cheese, it doesn’t lump up while grating. Most graters come with additional drums so that you can prepare different ingredients like vegetables.
- Large Hopper – Nobody wants to spend a lot of time grating cheese, so I recommend getting one with about a two-inch hopper.
- Dishwasher Safe – After grating blocks of cheese, if you’re like me, you don’t want to spend a lot of time hand cleaning the grater. So you want to look for one that is dishwasher safe.
- Easy To Assemble and Disassemble – Based on what we just talked about with being dishwasher safe, being able to quickly and easily take apart and put back together is essential when selecting a rotary grater.
TX Foodies uses the SLC Swift Rotary Drum Grater it meets all four of the recommendations above. This grater has 3 different rotary ultra sharp cylinders slicer made of food grade stainless steel. All pieces are detachable for easy to clean, dishwasher safe. It’s great for cheese, vegetables, potatoes, coleslaw, nuts, hash browns, and onions.
