Who grates cheese anymore?

[gunsandbanjos]

I accidentally got into a conversation with a woman I don’t know at work today and whilst regaling us with the fact that she never chops anything and buys all veg pre chopped, she seemed aghast that anyone bothers to grate cheese and why would you when you can buy it pre grated.

Maybe because it’s covered in potato starch, expensive and not great quality?

Am I the only cheese grater left?

can you freeze block of cheese?

Yes you can, I do it all the time. In fact this won't work with mild and rubbery cheese but if you buy the firmer, more crumbly extra mature cheddar I find that freezing it makes it taste perfectly fine but makes it almost impossible to slice without falling to bits, so if I need grated cheese it just crumbles really easily into something similar to grated anyway.

I find the pre chopped veg even more distressing than the grated cheese... and that's saying something! There is a certain satisfaction to be had in chopping a pile of veg exactly the size you want them!

“You don't want to know where the pre-grated stuff comes from”

This has confirmed my suspicions! Even for camping now I will grate my own before we go!

I use chopped onion and garlic from the freezer in occasion, but cheese?! Nooooo!

I buy pre-grated as my supermarket doesn't stock value non-grated so it works out cheaper and I'm not fussy, I can't tell the difference. I would definitely buy a regular block if that were the cheaper option (i.e. if I had a car and could get to a decent supermarket).

I buy grated cheese BUT only because hubby and I can’t grate ourselves. We both have a disability that affects our hands so pre chopped veggies, grated cheese etc are a godsend. However we tend to only use it very rarely because it doesn’t taste very nice at all.

oh and i don't buy pre-chopped veg because a) my crappy supermarket doesn't stock it, b) it's more expensive, c) it goes bad much more quickly. I can't understand why people buy bags of pre-chopped lettuce, it lasts about a day and lettuce isn't exactly difficult to chop up!

“You don't want to know where the pre-grated stuff comes from”

From a factory that grates the exact same cheese as you do.

Buy it or not, there is no need for childish lies about what it is.

You don't want to know where the pre-grated stuff comes from”

Ok... where? I’m actually genuinely curious.

But it probably won’t be worse than fishfingers and many people still buy them.
People also still buy food coloured with beetles
They also buy food that contains L-cysteine (usually from human hair or duck feathers, I believe...), castoreum (I wonder if that’s not still derived from beaver sacks nowadays?), dried fish bladder, gummy bears etc (gelatine...) etc.

But I do know that grated cheese in quite a few countries may contain ‘wood pulp’ or other anti-clumping agents, sometimes even quite a lot of it. Is that what you’re talking about?

So yeah. If you want to eat ‘just cheese’ buying whole blocks and grating is yourself is probably a better solution.

*castoreum (I wonder if that’s not still derived from beaver sacks nowadays?)

What is a beaver sack???? Do I want to know...

When grating cheese I usually grate a little over the dog's head as cheese rain. It is a top treat.

All the crap about wood pulp etc: thats America, they add all kinds of shit to food that is not allowed in Europe (although soon you won't have those pesky eurocrats stopping people putting wood in your cheese!). Even Tesco value grated cheddar is just cheddar, the exact same as the block sitting next to it, and a tiny sprinkle of potato starch. .

for all the "grated cheese is horrendous" brigade, I guarantee you could not tell pre grated from home grated in any cooked dish.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration lists castoreum extract as a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) food additive.[12] In 1965, the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association's GRAS program (FEMA 2261 and 2262) added castoreum extract and castoreum liquid.[13] Product ingredient lists often refer to it simply as a "natural flavoring." While it is mainly used in foods and beverages as part of a substitute vanilla flavor,[14] it is less commonly used as a part of a raspberry or strawberry flavoring.[15] The annual industry consumption is very low, around 300 pounds,[16] whereas vanillin is over 2.6 million pounds annually.[17]

Castoreum has been traditionally used in Sweden for flavoring schnapps commonly referred to as "Bäverhojt" (literally, beaver shout).[18]

I was shocked at Christmas people buying pre-prepared roasties, veg, yorkshire pudding etc when they are so easy to do yourself

You really need to get out more

isawahatonc - but you would have to buy loads of different types of lettuce to get the mix of the bags and that would cost more and probably be wasted (unless you eat a lot of lettuce). We get bags because we like the variety of leaves.

Weeping

Btw, I’m not saying it’s horrible,

And whether it’s 1-2% of cellulose or of potatoe starch... doesn’t matter imo.

But I know that some people are very particular about what they eat.

I personally don’t eat pork so I’ve gotten used to reading food labels etc. And explain DD1 why we can’t buy this or that...

Always grate my own cheese. Put it in a clean tub and put about 1/2 tsp cornflour in with it. Put lid on and give it a good shake. That stops all the cheese sticking together in a lump. Very easy to sprinkle then. So much better than the tasteless, rubbery pre-grated stuff

I buy bagged lettuce because life is too damn short to be washing lettuce heads.

But I know that some people are very particular about what they eat

Yes, we are. But we don't judge so stupidly as some on here and make up nonsense. It's a snobbery thing, not a taste thing.

EllenMP, are you in the US? Would guess so from the mention of Monterey Jack.
Here in the U.K. ready-grated cheese is very often the cheapest (relatively tasteless and rubbery) very mild cheddar, which is why many of us prefer to buy better quality blocks and grate it ourselves.

I actually meant about the contents. That they want ‘just the product’ / ‘just cheese’ and nothing else.

I do think that cheese blogs are better if you don’t need / eat a lot of cheese.

We have one of these (in the pic) and it’s really quick as well. I don’t really use pre-grated cheese. But I think that’s mostly because I’m used to buying the blocks...

And this thing is so useful. I grate cheese, veggies etc with this. Love it ;)

I also like the round grates over a metal box :)

Here in the U.K. ready-grated cheese is very often the cheapest (relatively tasteless and rubbery) very mild cheddar, which is why many of us prefer to buy better quality blocks and grate it ourselves

people aren't saying that though. They are saying all pregrated is worse than none, nothing about quality. You can get tasteless rubbery cheese in a block or grated, and you can get good quality cheese in a block or grated.
If this whole thread is about people comparing their good block cheese to the worst grated, they are quite dim.

Here in the U.K. ready-grated cheese is very often the cheapest (relatively tasteless and rubbery) very mild cheddar, which is why many of us prefer to buy better quality blocks and grate it ourselves.

Ah, this is why this thread has confused me.

At Morrisons there's lots of choice: the aforementioned Four Cheese Mix; four different strengths of Cheddar; Red Leicester; Mozzarella and Cheddar mix (aka pizza cheese); Double Gloucester; etc, and that's before you get on to the half-fat nonsense and branded options. There's a weird value brand cheddar analogue thing but I wouldn't be interested in that.

figmentofmyimagination aww I bet your dog loves cheese rain!