Woman's genius cheese grating hack shows people have been doing it wrong their whole lives

Grating cheese might seem like a no-brainer task—just hold the grater upright and scrape away. But there's a game-changing method that makes it even easier. Alice Due (@aliceinbravoland) shared her brilliant hack on TikTok, and it's gone viral.

 In the video, Alice stands in her kitchen with a half-unwrapped block of Colby Jack cheese. Instead of using the grater upright, she places it horizontally on the counter, making it easier to handle.

Speaking to her more than 11k TikTok followers, she explains that one should lay the grater on the side. “I guess I’ve been doing this wrong the whole time,” she sighed. The camera then displays her shredding cheese almost effortlessly through the sharp metal grates, while the ribbons of cheese collect in the open body of the grater. She says this way, the cheese is “easier to transport” in a bowl or pan.

 Alice tilts the open end of the grater and lets the shredded cheese fall neatly into a bowl. “Then you just pick it up and put it right in your bowl,” she explains before showcasing a bowl full of shredded cheese. Impressed by the hack she had learned, Alice wrote in the caption, “Did you know this? I’m easily impressed, so maybe this is no big deal, but I’m blown away!” The video has crossed 3 million views and got nearly 5,000 comments in less than a week.

Alice’s cheese grating method is brilliant as it avoids steadying the upright cheese grater on a plate or in a bowl. Plus, it prevents the person from scraping their knuckles, which often happens in the process. Chef Frank Proto from Epicurious also shared this method, explaining the science behind it. He said, “When you rest a cheese grater on its side to use it, you have much more control, and gravity works more efficiently.” No wonder thousands of people were amused by Alice’s hack.

@lisasunshinepatriot2 exclaimed, “OMG the struggle was so real how in the world did I not think of this!” Whereas, @melron2022 said, “Umm why didn’t I ever think of this lol... thank you!”

Several people added their tips to this ingenious hack. For example, @ainek.fitness said, “You also don’t need to go forward and back with the cheese, just forward and you get a much better result.” @gotpower87 offered another tip, “Put your cheese in the freezer for like 20 minutes before grating…makes it easier too.” @angmary625 cautioned her not to scratch the countertop while grating this way. Alice said she had already considered this and put the grater on the cutting board rather than the counter. Alice also shared this video on Instagram, which picked up nearly 47,000 views.

But Alice is not the only one amazed by this kitchen hack. The same hack became viral a few years ago. In 2018, Bea Symons, a tattoo artist from Nottingham, England, shared a video on X (@beasymss) displaying the same hack as Alice did. Symons shared a clip from one of the mac and cheese recipe videos by Tastemade UK, saying that she felt like a fool for not knowing the trick.

People’s reaction to this new method proves that Alice and Symons are not alone in thinking that they’ve been grating cheese wrong the entire time. But as Alice said in the video, “You are never too old to learn new things.”

You can follow Alice ( @aliceinbravoland) on TikTok for more kitchen hacks.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on June 1, 2024. It has since been updated.