A grater, also referred to as a shredder, is a kitchen utensil used to grate or shred foods into fine pieces. They come in several shapes and sizes, with box graters being the most common.
Uses
Food preparation
Graters are commonly used to process
vegetable,
cheese,
citrus peels (to create zest), and
Spice (such as
ginger and
nutmeg). They can also be used to grate other soft foods. Dishes whose preparation involves graters include
toasted cheese,
Welsh rarebit,
egg salad,
and foods containing
cheese sauce such as macaroni and cheese and cauliflower cheese. Rotary graters are more efficient than other graters, due to their mechanical leverage, and are effective for processing harder foods like nuts.
Several types of graters feature different sizes of grating slots and can therefore aid in the preparation of a variety of foods.
In Slavic cuisine, graters are commonly used to grate for preparation of dishes, including draniki, bramborak or potato babka.
In tropical countries graters are also used to grate coconut meat. In the Indian subcontinent, the grater is used for preparation of a popular dessert, Gajar Ka Halwa.
Graters produce shreds that are thinner at the ends than the middle. This allows the grated material to melt or cook in a different manner than the shreds of mostly uniform thickness produced by the grating blade of a food processor. Hand-grated potatoes, for example, melt together more easily in a potato pancake than food-processed potato shreds.
In music
In
Jamaica and
Belize, coconut graters are used as a traditional musical instrument
(along with drums, fife, and other instruments) in the performance of
kumina,
jonkanoo,
brukdown, and sometimes
mento.
History
The first attested graters were made out of bronze, and also silver alloys, in the early first millennium BCE, examples of which were uncovered from burial sites in Greece and Etruscan Italy.
In line with
Homer's
Iliad, these were sometimes used to grate goat's cheese in the making of a type of
Kykeon, a
Fasting-breaking drink.
The origin of our modern graters is disputed. One of the earliest known depictions of a grater that resembles contemporary designs appeared in the Bartolomeo Scappi work,
Opera dell'arte del cucinare, illustrated by Milano Agrappi, published in Venice in 1570
. However, most attribute the first "modern" cheese grater to François Boullier in 1540s France.
His
pewter design was intended to convert hard cheeses into something more edible.
Images
File:Cheese Grater.jpg|Cheese grater
Image:Zest Grater.jpg|A Lemon zester
Image:Muskatreibe fcm.jpg|A nutmeg grater
Image:Terka.jpg|Multiple graters
Image:GingerGrater.png|Porcelain ginger or garlic grater
Image:Oroshigane.Sharkskin.jpg|Sharkskin grater
File:Chirava c.jpg|Traditional coconut grater design in the Indo-Pacific
Image:Micro Plane.jpg|Microplane grater
Image:970GrosseMoccaMuehleOttoBenzH2a.jpg|Combined electric coffee grinder and cheese grater Germany around 1930
In popular culture
-
Kevin Eastman, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, got the idea for the Shredder's armor from large cheese graters which he envisioned on a villainous characters' arms to be used as weapons. Originally called "Grate Man", the Shredder is known as the primary antagonist in the TMNT franchise.
[The Making of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles': Behind the Shells. 1991.]
-
Wisconsin sports fans are often called , and some wear cheese hats. In 2013, sports fans of Chicago and Minnesota replied to their rivals by wearing cheese graters.
[ Cheddar shredder - Chicago Tribune, 26 December 2013]
See also
