One of the reasons I had seven children is so they can do the menial tasks I dislike, such as shredding cheese. I don’t like to shred cheese. I don’t like how it gets melty and mushy and sort of oozes into the grater after a few minutes instead of slicing off cleanly. Do you know what I mean?
The solution is simple. Pop the entire block of cheese into the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes. (Any longer and the cheese might thaw oddly.) It will harden enough to make the cheese grating process a thing of beauty. A thing of beauty, I tell ya!
Pop the grater in the freezer, too, and the process will be even slicker.
I know you’re wondering why I don’t recommend buying the already grated cheese to totally simplify the process. Oh, I have my reasons.
First, usually the shredded cheese is more expensive, but lately I’ve been noticing some shredded cheeses are cheaper than their block counterparts. Shocking, I know!
Another reason is that shredded cheeses do the whole melty mushy thing unless the manufacturer adds an anti-caking agent. That’s no big deal to most of you, but I have a daughter with Crohn’s Disease who can’t currently eat the potato starch and powdered cellulose (usually a wood byproduct) that are often used as the agents in question.
Finally, if you’re low-carbing it, that’s a little extra carb intake that isn’t as fun as, say, eating a cookie. I totally made that last one up—anything to promote cookies!
Reasons one and two are enough for us to force our kids to shred our own cheese.
Are you freaking out over wood in your cheese? Don’t freak out. The government says it’s just fine.
You can stop laughing now.
Seriously, the government says it’s fine, and even some organic companies say it’s fine. Others say it’s the spawn of Satan.
Do I know the answer? No. Do I care? I care enough to buy block cheese and make my children shred it at home. I don’t care enough to not eat Archway Windmill Cookies and Lorna Doones from Grandma’s cookie jar. (Those cookie links are affiliate links…and my favorite store cookies.)
I know. I have issues.
I shred my own cheese too. There really isn’t much of a difference in the price of a block of cheese versus shredded per pound. I’ve noticed with the pre-shredded cheese the flavor isn’t as pronounced, perhaps it the anticaking agent.
You’re right about the taste; I noticed that, too. Pre-shredded cheese also doesn’t melt as well because of the coating. Thanks for popping on and commenting.
I use my salad shooter to shred cheese directly in a Ziploc bag. You can add a little cornstarch or potato starch to keeping it from clumping in the freezer if you want.
That is an excellent idea! We can’t use the starches, because my daughter can’t eat it, but it would still be a fast way to get the shredding job done. Thanks for sharing the tip!
Wow! I love simple tips like these! 🙂 We always buy block cheese too – raw organic cheese online that actually ends up being cheaper than buying it at the store for us. (We buy it in bulk and split it with people from our church or my in-laws.) It is soooooo yummy, but as you said, I despise shredding the block cheese! (And I have no kiddos yet to force to shred it :-P) Thank you again for the tip!
Also, we miss you! Hope you are having a great May, and looking forward to new posts when you can! 😉
Hi Tiffany!
Sorry I’ve been absent. My computer died completely, and now I have a replacement, but no way to load pictures up yet, so…well…it’ll be a while yet. That’s okay, though, as I’m getting quite a bit of reading done. 🙂
I’ve never had raw cheese, but you make it sound irresistible! 🙂
Thanks for the comment!