I can grate Parmigiano Reggiano and other hard cheeses on my trusty, easy-to-clean microplane until the cows come home. But there’s a reason I prefer to buy soft cheeses like mozzarella pre-shredded: Cleaning a box grater can be a nightmare. And no, that’s not an exaggeration, given how close fingertips are to those sharp, tiny holes.
While there are some box graters that are dishwasher-safe, I’m normally reluctant to risk dulling the blades in there — although I was tempted to risk it all when I was left with a mozz-coated box grater after helping my husband prep ingredients for a (delicious) frittata recently. I realized too late that I should’ve probably tried the hack of freezing the ball of mozz for about half an hour before grating it — but that’s an experiment for another time.
As I stared down mournfully at the cheese-covered mess, wondering if I should just chuck the whole thing rather than scrub it clean, I remembered another hack that would save both my new sponge and my fingertips from getting shredded. I went to the fridge and grabbed a wrapped leftover lemon half. I had heard once that cleaning a box grater could be as easy as rubbing a cut lemon across the blades. Worth a try, right?
What Happened When I Cleaned My Cheese Grater with a Lemon
I placed the cut end of the lemon on the blades and rubbed the lemon just as I had done with the mozzarella earlier. But instead of the lemon getting stuck like the cheese did, it removed all of the cheese and dripped through the grates.
The lemon worked on both the smaller perforations and the larger slicer on the side of my box grater. In just about a minute, the whole thing was free of cheese. My husband and I shared a “woaaaah” moment at what we’d just witnessed.
There was some juice and a little pulp from the lemon, but that rinsed free with a blast of hot water from the faucet. I gently ran the sponge over the whole grater for good measure, gave it a rinse again, and let it air-dry on the dryer mat.
I was surprised that half a lemon saved the day, but I really shouldn’t have been. After all, lemon is an incredible natural cleanser thanks to citric acid, just leaving a little easy-to-rinse pulp behind. I found the lemon to be quite effective on its own, perhaps because I didn’t let the cheese stay caked on for too long. But I did have a backup plan if the lone lemon failed me: salt: Salt is a natural abrasive, and if your grater needs a bit more elbow grease, you can dip the lemon in a bowl of salt (or give it a healthy sprinkle, if that’s easier) and then scrub the grater. The salt dissolves, of course, so it’s not like you’re gunking up your grater any further.
Perhaps you’re thinking: Why waste a lemon like this? I almost always have half a lemon left over from a recipe, and the one I had wasn’t exactly the freshest. I did give it a good squeeze into my water bottle to get another use out of it before it landed in the compost bin, and I would always recommend that if you use a lemon for cleaning — zesting or peeling the rind would be a good idea, too!
Will I remember to freeze the soft cheese in the future? Maybe. But I’ll also remember not to freak out next time I have a grater covered in mozzarella — as long as I have at least half a lemon on hand.