A grater (also known as a shredder in parts of the eastern United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

) is a kitchen utensil used to grate foods into fine pieces. It was invented by François Boullier in the 1540s.

Uses

Several types of graters feature different sizes of grating slots, and can therefore aid in the preparation of a variety of foods. They are commonly used to grate cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....

 and lemon

Lemon

The lemon is both a small evergreen tree native to Asia, and the tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit. The fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world – primarily for its juice, though the pulp and rind are also used, mainly in cooking and baking...

 or orange

Orange (fruit)

An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....

 peel (to create zest

Zest (ingredient)

Zest is a food ingredient that is prepared by scraping or cutting from the outer, colorful skin of citrus fruits such as lemon, orange, citron, and lime. Zest is used to add flavor to foods....

), and can also be used to grate other soft foods. They are commonly used in the preparation of toasted cheese, Welsh rarebit, and macaroni and cheese

Macaroni and cheese

Macaroni and cheese, also known as "mac and cheese", "macaroni cheese" in British English, or "macaroni pie" in Caribbean English, is a casserole consisting of cooked macaroni and cheese sauce...

.

In Slavic cuisine, graters are commonly used to grate potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

es, for preparation of, e.g., draniki, bramborak or potato babka

Potato babka

Potato babka is a savoury dish, popular especially in Belarus. It is made from grated potatoes, eggs, onions, and pieces of smoked, boiled or fried bacon. It is oven-baked in a crock, and often served with a sauce of sour cream and pork flitch...

.

In tropical nations, graters are also used to grate coconut

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

 meat. In Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

, a coconut grater is used as a traditional musical instrument (along with drums, fife, and other instruments) in the performance of kumina

Kumina

Kumina or Cumina is a cultural form indigenous to Jamaica. It is a religion, music and dance practiced by, in large part, Jamaicans who reside in the eastern parish on St. Thomas on the island. These people have retained the drumming and dancing of the Akan people. Like the Kongo practitioners...

, jonkanoo

Jonkanoo

Jonkanoo is a masquerade festival/parade from The Bahamas, believed to be of West African origin. It is traditionally performed through the streets during the Christmas period, and involves participants dressed in a variety of fanciful costumes, such as the Cow Head, the Hobby Horse, the Wild...

, and sometimes mento

Mento

Mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It has its roots in calypso and other Jamaican folk music. Mento typically features acoustic instruments, such as acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums, and the rhumba box — a large mbira in the...

.

History

The cheese grater was invented by Issac Cox in the 1540s so hard cheeses could still be used.In Roman times, Roman soldiers were known to grate each other with cheese graters for sexual pleasure.

Variants

There are also complex food-processing machines with grater-like mechanisms. These mechanisms rotate by the turn of a cluster or electric motor.

In popular culture

• In The Sopranos
  The Sopranos
  The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
  
  episode, "Mergers and Acqusitions", Valentina La Paz reports, in disgust, to Tony Soprano
  Tony Soprano
  Anthony John "Tony" Soprano, Sr. is an Italian-American fictional character and the protagonist on the HBO television drama series The Sopranos, on which he is portrayed by James Gandolfini. The character was conceived by The Sopranos creator and show runner David Chase, who was also largely...
  
   that in lieu of having conventional sexual relations, Soprano family mob captain, Ralph Cifaretto, asks her to scrape a cheese grater across his back and pour hot candle wax on his testicles.

• Comedian Mitch Hedberg
  Mitch Hedberg
  Mitchell Lee "Mitch" Hedberg was an American stand-up comedian known for his surreal humor and unconventional comedic delivery. His comedy typically featured short, sometimes one-line jokes, mixed with absurd elements and non sequiturs...
  
   performed a joke in which he stated that the negative name of cheese grater would be "a sponge ruiner."

See also

• Oroshigane
  Oroshigane
  Oroshigane , also known as oroshiki are graters used in Japanese cooking.These oroshigane differ significantly from Western-style graters, as they produce a much finer grating...
  
  
• Tamis
  Tamis
  A tamis is a kitchen utensil, shaped somewhat like a snare drum, that acts as a strainer, grater, or food mill. A tamis has a cylindrical edge, made of metal or wood, that supports a disc of fine metal, nylon, or horsehair mesh. To use one, the cook places the tamis above a bowl and adds the...
  
  
• Surform
  Surform
  A surform tool features perforated sheet metal and resembles a food grater. A surform tool consists of a steel strip with holes punched out and the rim of each hole sharpened to form a cutting edge. The strip is mounted in a carriage or handle...
  
  
• Mandoline
  Mandoline
  A mandoline is a cooking utensil used for slicing and for cutting juliennes; with suitable attachments, it can make crinkle-cuts. It consists of two parallel working surfaces, one of which can be adjusted in height. A food item is slid along the adjustable surface until it reaches a blade mounted...
  
  
• Food processor
  Food processor
  A food processor is a kitchen appliance used to facilitate various repetitive tasks in the process of preparation of food. Today, the term almost always refers to an electric-motor-driven appliance, although there are some manual devices also referred to as "food processors".Food processors are...
  
  the appliance that sometimes has a grating blade