The Freezer Trick That Makes Grating Cheese Super Simple

Grating cheese by hand can be a bit tedious, especially if the block of cheese warms up and starts becoming pliant in your hands. What began as a straightforward task is now a pain, since you'll find that the cheese starts smearing over the box grater rather than catching on the holes properly. Or, even worse, the block can break right as you're grating it, potentially setting you up for some scraped knuckles and a horrible mood.

If a recipe calls for large amounts of grated cheese, there is one thing you can do to make life just a little bit easier — and that's placing your cheese in the freezer for a short period of time, between 20 and 30 minutes. You want it in a position where it becomes just shy of frozen. Its stiffer state means it'll grate smoothly and smear less, making your task much easier to complete. But you don't want to completely freeze it either, as a completely frozen block of cheese is impossible to run over a grater. That being said, I'd still recommend you move quickly, as the warmth from the friction caused by the grater (plus the natural warmth from your hands), will bring the cheese back to room temperature fairly rapidly.

If you're wondering why it's worth grating your own cheese when the pre-shredded stuff exists, there are a few reasons for that. Sometimes the pre-shredded stuff can be more expensive than the block version, thanks to the added processing involved. But the main reason why you should grate your own cheese is that it simply tastes better. Pre-shredded cheese is coated with cellulose, which is a plant-based fiber. This prevents it from caking together in the bag.

That cellulose is why eating shredded cheese leaves you with a slightly mealy or chalky palate. It also affects the way cheese melts, as the end product is grainy rather than silky. Oddly, some people swear that washing bagged cheese works, but that process sounds dubious to me at best. 

If you're using bagged stuff for convenience, no judgment here — but just know that grating it does make a noticeable difference. And if you have an overwhelming amount of cheese to grate, some food processors come with handy cheese grater attachments that you simply clip into the device, making pizza night a whole lot easier. The downside is simply added cleanup. Otherwise, it really is best to grate your own cheese for pizza night, and that freezer trick should turn a potentially annoying task into a less tedious one.