A Great Idea; Grate Plates
Why We Need Grate Plates
What a GREAT idea a grating plate is! I was just trying to grate some cheese for my family’s baked potatoes last night while trying to avoid shredding my fingers along with the cheese & wishing there was an easier way to shred things. I was also noticing how messy the cheese grater was & how incredibly annoying it is to clean every time I needed to grate something else quickly. Especially because I am highly allergic to cheese and need to avoid cross contamination, I decided to buy a separate grater for my herbs, other foods etc.
How I found out about Grate Plates
Facebook ads must be a mind reader because that same day I got an ad for the Grate Plate, the absolute prettiest grater plate I’ve found. And I’ve looked at a lot because that one little picture led me down the grate plate rabbit hole while I was up nursing in the middle of the night! Grater plates are handy little ceramic dishes with bumpy teeth in the center that allow you to quickly grate herbs, spices, fruits, and veggies without shredding your fingers.
The Benefits of Grate Plates
Each of these ceramic porcelain grater plates are made from non-toxic lead free material. They are heat resistant, dishwasher safe, and do not absorb smells/flavors (important to me when I’m pregnant!) They can all be used for grating a number of things including garlic, cheese, ginger, cinnamon, chocolate, fruits & veggies etc. One totally awesome idea that many of the reviews included is using the grater plate to make quick healthy meals for your baby! I think this would be so helpful if you wanted to quickly mush up a small serving of fruit or veggies for your little ones, especially since blenders can sometimes work poorly if the portion is too small. It would also be great to know that you can still easily mush up baby food if there was no electricity for some reason. (I was from Florida so planning ahead for hurricanes & power outages was part of life)
A Few of my favorite Grate Plate Picks
Check out a few of my favorite plates. You can click on the photos or titles to check out more info about each grater plate on Amazon.com. (Note these are my affiliate links so I’ll earn a small amount at no cost to you if you purchase through my links)
This is the plate and the gorgeous color that started my obssesion. These pretty little 6 sided plates come in 11 different colors and are 4.5 inches across. They also come with a little brush for gathering your ingredients into your recipe. At $25 they are a bit more expensive than other plates, but they are beautiful & are handmade by a mother-daughter team in Portland Oregon, which I think is awesome.
I thought this grater plate had some unique features though I was disappointed that it only came in white. The raised teeth & shallow “moat” (for lack of a better word) around the edge of the plate collect extra juice easily while the spout makes pouring more convenient. For some reason I am horrible at pouring things out of bowls unless they have a good spout so this looks really helpful. It also comes in a few sizes from amazon; the 4 inch size is $9.99 while the 6 inch size is $12.99. Another benefit is free shipping & a 30 day no-chip guarantee from Sweese. It has 90 reviews on Amazon with an average of 4.5 stars.
For an herbalist & someone who like kitchen tools that can multitask as well as they can, this might be the winner! It has grating teeth on one side & a smooth area on the other side to brush the shredded ingredients into. It also has 4 different sized holes that can be used to strip the leaves off herbs and greens, which I thought would be especially handy for processing your homegrown herbs. When you are not actively using the grater, you can also use it as a spoon rest to avoid extra mess in the kitchen. It is about 6.5 inches by 4.5 inches and comes with it’s own little brush for gathering ingredients to add to your recipe. At only $14.99 with free shipping through Amazon this seems like a pretty good deal to me. It has over 60 reviews with an average of 4.5 stars & the manufacturer must be pretty confident in the quality because they offer a lifetime warranty.
I included this grater because the seller offers multiple different colors & styles of the same grater, which might be a benefit over plain white to some people. It has fewer reviews on Amazon than the others I have shared, but the majority of them are 5 star. It also includes a little display stand to keep it handy, a brush, and a silicone garlic peeler.
Check out these grater plates & let me know which one is your favorite! Your fingertips & knuckles will thank you for the investment when they are not shredded and bleeding from a traditional metal grater!