People are only just realising about fourth side of a cheese grater

A chef has reminded budding cooks the fourth side of a cheese grater is used for shredding the zests of lemon, orange and other citrus fruits – and not the dairy product at all.

When one confused cook asked people online if they even use the fourth side of the gadget, they received several puzzled responses until the chef came forward yesterday.

They stated: “It took years to figure out. Parmesan and lemon/orange/ lime zest is best shredded on this side.”

Others, who said they had experience in the hospitality industry, supported the chef.

One posted: “Zest hard cheese or garlic nutmeg maybe ginger to make like a paste.”

And food experts at Marthastewart.com weighed in. The company stated: “The smaller shredding holes are designed to finely grate cheese, chocolate, vegetables, and more.”

Then the smallest holes can be used to make fine strands of cheese that will easily dissolve into salad dressings or sauces, or like Reddit users suggested, to zest citrus and grate nutmeg.

But prior to this, people shared their confusion online, Mirror says.

The original Reddit poster had added: “All this has ever done is hurt my hand, but I’ve literally never used those smalls hole graters ever. Pretty much just use the other side for making grated cheese.”

An equally confused commenter wrote: “I have this exact one… and I’ve also assumed it was to make the cheese bit smaller after grating. “All it does though however, is f*** your hand up when you misshold it… mf… scrapes a good knuckle…”

Meanwhile, someone else quipped: “Very handy for shredding cleaning sponges.”

People are often surprised to learn they’ve been using popular kitchen gadgets, like cheese graters, incorrectly when there was an easier method all along. Last month, foodies were “mind blown” after sharing the little-known purpose of the hole in a pasta server.