How do you grate yours?

Emma White - Nutritionist | 28 Jan, 2021

cheese

Most people (84%) opt for the side with the medium raindrop-shaped holes (blue side). In strict culinary terms, this is actually called “shredding” rather than “grating”.

Few Brits tend to use the other sides – 33% use the smaller raindrop-shaped holes (yellow side). This is also technically for shredding.

Even fewer (14%) use the side with the small prickly holes (red side). This side is in fact the only one specifically for “grating” (as opposed to shredding or shaving).

Finally, a mere 12% use the side with the very wide holes (green side) that are used for shaving cheese.

So which side is best?

Well... if you're trying to make your calories go further, opting for the smaller holes would be the better option. The image below shows three different plates, all of which have 30g of cheese on them. Just look at how it can trick your brain into thinking you're eating much more by grating smaller!

cheese

Challenging chunks!

One of the biggest conundrums is what to do with the lumps that become too small to grate. Most Brits (43%) say they just eat it! (We hope they remember to count those extra calories!)

A further 11% say they pop the chunk back into the packet, while 9% chuck it in with the grated cheese. Shockingly 29% of people say they’d risk their fingertips by grating until all the cheese is gone!

* Source – YouGov Report, Dec 2018

The 'grate'est of them all

There are around 700 named cheeses in the UK, but the simple Cheddar variety is crowned the UK’s favourite, accounting for 55% of household purchases.

Nutritionist Emma White (ANutr), MSc Human Nutrition is passionate about how food science applies to the human body, and how the nutrients in what we eat affect us and ultimately have an impact on our health.

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