Why You Should Clean Your Cheese Grater With a Lemon

There’s nothing quite like freshly grated cheese. Somehow the flavor is just better (or maybe that’s just in my head), but when it comes time to clean your cheese grater, that fatty cheese can be difficult to remove. An unexpected item could help.

Cleaning your cheese grater with lemon will have it spotless in no time, and it’ll smell great, too.

Thanks to the natural citric acid in lemons, they’re able to cut through grease and grime, and yes, that includes the cheese stuck to your grater. That’s exactly why lemons are such a common ingredient in DIY cleaners and cleaning hacks.

When it comes to using lemon to clean your grater, it’s just as simple as you’d think. Cut the lemon in half, and then, using the flesh inside, scrub carefully (we don’t want to grate a finger) until you see the cheese start to loosen. Some of the lemon pulp will come off in the grater, but that’s fine.

Allow the lemon juice to sit on the tool for five to 10 minutes. Then, rinse it with warm water, wash if detergent if you want to get rid of the lemon smell, and you’ve got a grater ready for your next round of cheddar.

Fascinated by all lemons can do? Check out what you should also be putting lemon in your dishwasher.