Prevent Scraped Knuckles With One Easy Cheese Grating Trick

Kitchen knives get all the bad press when it comes to cuts, but actually quite a lot of injuries happen while using other tools like peelers, mandolines, and even cheese graters. If you've ever scraped your knuckles trying to get one last pass from a block of cheese on a box grater, you'll be happy to know that there's an easier way. All you have to do is flip the grater onto its side so that you can push the cheese down into the tool instead of scraping it from the side.

Grating cheese from the top down isn't entirely foolproof, of course (a silicone oven mitt is also helpful), but it cuts way down on knuckle scrapes because it's easier to see what you're doing when you can look down on the tool instead of looking at it from the side. You're also better able to run the cheese along the entire length of the grater, which will get your cheese shredded just a tiny bit faster — and who doesn't like a little more time eating cheese versus grating?

Grate the cheese away from your body

Grating cheese at home is a must, especially if you're planning to melt it for recipes like nachos because the pre-shredded stuff does not melt the same. This kitchen hack is so simple that when you see it in action you might even forget all about bags of pre-shredded cheese. Breanna Breedlove (aka @goforgobbler) shows how it's done on TikTok:

@go4gobbler

#tiktokhacks #fyp #cheese #learneditontiktok #yourewelcomeforthis

♬ Monkeyshine-JP – Lt FitzGibbons Men

You'll notice in the video that she pushes the cheese away from her when it's being grated — this is because when the grater is on its side, the sharp edge of the holes will face your body. While you can turn the grater around so that the holes face the other direction if you prefer a pulling motion on your grater, it's a little more of a natural motion to push the cheese away from your body to grate. You'll also prevent flicking any cheesy bits onto yourself while you're grating when you grate away from your body. And yes, it'll work just as well for grating meat, vegetables, or anything else that needs shredding. Once you try it, you'll never go back to grating up and down. If anything, you'll probably kick yourself for all those years you've grated cheese the old way.