Kitchen grater
A grater (also briefly grater , slang for Coarse and rasp , Raffel or grater ) is a kitchen appliance that for crushing ( grate is used) of food. Depending on the size of the openings on the rubbing surface, a distinction is made between coarse and fine rubbing. Coarse graters are primarily used to chop vegetables or fruit, while fine graters are suitable for chopping spices . As a rule, graters are made of stainless steel , inexpensive plastic graters are also available. Traditionally there are also graters made of porcelain or ceramics , e.g. B. for apple grated. These devices, which are mainly used in Asian cuisine for grating fresh ginger , have no holes, only sharp, upstanding points. The grated ginger pulp runs into a collecting vessel on the grater, which is held at an angle. Early kitchen graters are from archaeological finds as early as the 9th century BC. Proven from Greece and Italy, where they were given to wealthy deceased along with tableware as grave goods . However, based on the current state of research, it cannot be specified whether these graters were used to chop up spices, cheese or medicines.
Variety of shapes
There are many different forms; the simplest is a flat grater plate that works on one side and sometimes has a cucumber slot. Four-sided devices (square drives) are popular, six-sided devices are less common. Kitchen graters are often combination devices that allow several types of grating. The options range from a pulpy consistency to coarsely and finely grated to wafer-thin slices. Kitchen graters can e.g. B. can be used for the production of raw vegetable salads or for grating Parmesan cheese . They are widely used to make potato pancakes . Grating is done manually, in contrast to an electric kitchen appliance . However, there are also mechanical graters, which are usually operated by a hand crank or a grater slide.
The mandolin is a special shape , a kitchen grater which is usually made of plastic or stainless steel with changeable knives for different cutting patterns. It cuts from vegetable strips (julienne) to beetroot with wavy cut to wafer-thin potato slices.
In some areas, such as Baden, aids for collecting berries (blueberry combs, rakes) are called raffles.
material
Most kitchen graters are made of steel. In high-quality graters, stainless steel or coated steel is used, which is resistant to corrosion and acids and therefore has a significantly longer service life. Some models are made of plastic and allow the use of a wide variety of graters.
Occasionally, glass graters are offered which are particularly suitable for soft grated material, e.g. B. for grating apples for baby food.
Examples of different kitchen graters
Parmesan grater
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A parmesan grater is a flat grater or mechanical device used to grind parmesan cheese. The latter has a drum with small, sharp teeth on which a certain amount of parmesan is placed and then crushed by turning a small crank, whereby it falls through these meshes . In order to apply pressure to this very hard cheese, the Parmesan is clamped between the grating drum and a gripper arm with a slightly semicircular end. The direction of the rotation depends on the position of the cheese in the grater.
Nutmeg grater
A nutmeg grater is used to grate nutmeg . It is a small grater (8 to 12 cm long) with a fine rubbing surface to obtain fine nutmeg powder. It is semi-cylindrical and conical; At the upper end, it is now often provided with a small storage container with a lid for storing the nutmegs. Some models are completely cylindrical and allow the nuts to be stored in the entire grater (then closed with lids). Despite, or perhaps because of, their compact design, nutmeg grinders are quite expensive in household stores. Today nutmegs are one of the few spices that are used almost exclusively freshly grated in European cuisine.
Ginger and wasabi grater
The ginger or wassabi grater (so-called oroshiki ) is very similar in size to the nutmeg grater . Traditionally, these kitchen utensils in Japanese cuisine consisted of tinned copper plates with many protruding teeth, but without perforation of the metal. An alternative material was shark skin. Oroshiki are now often made from ceramic or porcelain. The design with the protruding teeth means that the fibers of ginger, for example, are held in place by the grater, while the juice and ginger mass, which are used for seasoning, run down the side. The food historian Bee Wilson cites the Japanese oroshiki and the European nutmegs as examples that the shape of a kitchen utensil follows its function. The nutmeg grater has fine holes so that the flour of the grated nutmeg falls directly into the food to be seasoned. The Japanese graters, on the other hand, are designed to catch the fibers of the aromatic plants grated on them.
Truffle grater
The truffle grater (or truffle slicer ) is one of the smallest graters at all. Their sole purpose is to produce extremely fine slices of truffle, which only develop their full aroma when sliced very thinly. You can also use the truffle grater to cut the garlic clove into very thin slices instead of crushing them in the garlic press. In contrast to the solid truffle grater or the vegetable slicer, the truffle slicer has a finely adjustable knife with which the slice thickness of the truffle or garlic can be varied very precisely as desired.
cleaning
Especially with fine rubbing, the fine openings on the rubbing surface often sit with the grated material - e.g. B. Lemon peel - too. This dirt, which is often difficult to remove with water and a dish brush, can be removed by rubbing it with sugar cubes : the sugar crystals are hard and sharp enough to remove the deposit , but too soft to dull the edges of the grater.
See also
- Oroshiki - a Japanese variant of the kitchen grater
- Vegetable slicer , cheese slicer
literature
- Bee Wilson : Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat . Penguin Books, London 2013, ISBN 978-0-141-04908-3 .
