Dave Smith wrote:
> On 2014-09-11 1:48 PM, Brooklyn1 wrote:
>> On Wed, 10 Sep 2014 21:24:48 -0700, "Julie Bove"
>> > wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> "Sqwertz" > wrote in message
>>> ...
>>>> On Wed, 27 Aug 2014 21:18:23 +1000, DavidW wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Okay, so I got myself a plane grater, something roughly like this:
>>>>> http://p.globalsources.com/IMAGES/PD...ese-grater.jpg
>>>>>
>>>>> I grated some Zanetti Reggiano with it. It works okay. It
>>>>> produces short, tiny
>>>>> filaments rather than grains. Not ideal, but better than talcum
>>>>> powder from the
>>>>> deli. It takes 4-5 minutes' grating per serve (about 20g), which
>>>>> is too long
>>>>> really.
>>>>
>>>> I just timed how long it took me to Microplane a 1" cube of
>>>> Parmesan cheese. That's about 1 ounce from what I read on the
>>>> nutrition labels. That's 27 grams. Anybody want to take a guess
>>>> how long it took?
>>>>
>>>> Drum Roll............
>>>>
>>>> 12 seconds.
>>>>
>>>> And that wasn't even rushing it too hard. This was using the
>>>> classic slim, unidirection 8" blade grater. With a 2 second
>>>> deduction since that last 2-3 grams of a 1" block gets hard to
>>>> hold without shredding your fingers.
>>>>
>>>> 12 seconds for me, 4-5 *minutes* for David. I did it in 1/25th the
>>>> time he claims. Hmmm.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Yeah. That sounded weird. Only things I can figure is that he
>>> bought a dull grater and/or is pressing the cheese far too hard or
>>> maybe was holding the grater backwards.
>>
>> Yeah, figgures you'd think that... only person on the planet who
>> would use a grater in the opposite direction is Juli Bove. LOL

Well, you can't hold it backwards and grate any cheese. The inside surface where
the grated cheese comes out is inaccessible because of the curve of the grater.
And you can't really grate in the wrong direction, since you would have to grate
upwards towards the handle, which would be unnatural and much harder to do than
grating downwards.

The most likely reason for the time difference is that the plane grater I got is
too fine for my purpose. It alternates 8 and 7 teeth per row, which I think is
finer than the image I linked to. It might also just be a poor-quality grater in
its manufacture. A difference in the cheese texture is also a possibility. By
far the least likely reason is my grating technique. That just wouldn't account
for such a big time difference. Grating cheese isn't brain surgery. You soon
discover the amount of pressure that works best.

> What's a little funnier is that I was the one who had suggested that
> if it took him that long to grate the cheese he might be doing it
> backwards. Julie claims not to read my posts but she seems to have
> seen that anyway.