Forum: lifehacks.stackexchange.com
Tags: <food><kitchen><safety>
Title: How can I safely grate a small food item without cutting my fingers?
Question: When I am grating a block of parmesan cheese and the block becomes particularly small, I often fear that I will slip/the item will be completely grated and I will cut/grate my fingers. I've used rubber gloves as well but I'm concerned they are not thick enough. What is the best way to protect against this? Are there graters with built-in functions to prevent this? Or would a particular kind of gloves help?

Answers:
sents: text: There are a variety of devices to solve this problem, my first thought would be thimbles if you don't want to buy one, but I would encourage just getting such a device, there's both rotary and flat-board ones I've seen.
text: The rotary ones are thus:
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/14/Jimmy Hoffa
score: 14
sents: text: I have used the palm of my hand to "finish off" a block of cheese.
text: If you apply the pressure with the center of your hand and raise your fingers up a bit, away from the grater, you will be able to safely push the cheese through the holes and crumble off the remaining bit without the risk of loosing your finger tips.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/17/Phlume
score: 9
sents: text: I find that corn forks (small forks for holding corn on the cob) works really well, and keeps your fingers away from the cutting edge of the grater.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/127/Andrew Williams
score: 6
sents: text: Get gloves or thimbles .
text: I have encountered this problem several time as I make home made pizza and
text: the idea I use is thimbles.
text: But if you are a larger person you may need bigger thimbles and all the ones I use come in one size only(and that barely fits my thumb).
text: This plan is cheaper and may take less preparation and time.
text: The more fancy idea is the rotary grater thing(which makes to large grates, but I haven't used it often) which in my opinion is to expensive(but not as a one time purchase), but less notably from Is there a way to grate a block of cheese entirely without hurting one's fingers or knuckles?
text: are: Crumbling the cheese when it nears the end of the bar or whatever shape it is.
text: Leaving a very thin slice.
text: I will add to that answer and say cut the remainder slice up to the desired size.
text: These are awesome ideas that work awesomely since the pieces that are not uniform will probably not be seen.
text: Get a plastic grater.
text: These will be kinder to your fingers and though they are only 5.75 and similar prices you will probably have to buy more of them, due to the fact that they are plastic and plastic keeps less than metal and similar hardier products.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/188/Pobrecita
score: 4
sents: text: How about using bottle caps to cover the ends of the fingers?Or reverse the cap so it sinks into the potato (in my case) and use the protruding part as a handle?
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/20024/wharizona
score: 2
sents: text: Try cut resistant gloves like those from NoCry.
text: Inexpensive and durable.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/19980/nurikabe
score: 1
sents: text: Pick some scrap wood (preferably hardwood, about 1cm thick) and cut out a piece thats about 4cmx4cm, on one side make deep (2mm) grooves.
text: Clean them carefully so you don't get splinters in your cheese.
text: Then place the wood with the grooves down, perpendicular to the direction of movement, on the cheese
text: and you have a fine handle.
text: If something quicker is required use some leather thing you have.
text: The leather is sturdy enough not to fall into your food and thick enough not to cut your fingers.
text: Of course it can get holes while being applied.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/129/Angelo Fuchs
score: 0
sents: text: I invented the SAFEGRATE kitchen tool for exactly your problem because I too would cut my fingers.
text: You can grate any sized food on any grater you already own.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/31761/Lori Turk
score: 0
sents: text: Put the cheese somewhere it won't move (plenty friction, most chopping boards should be fine but if you were grating veg then you'd want to wedge it somewhere), and move the grater over it instead.
text: Much larger thing to hold, and hopefully much less chance of getting cut.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/31757/Spencer Barnes
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
There are many ways to address this issue. One would be to buy some thick gloves or hold the cheese using thimbles, bottle caps or corn forks. Other options would include using a rotary grater or simply cutting the cheese with a knife once it gets too small.
There are many options for this - you could use gloves, thimbles or some kind of cheese gripping device to protect your fingers or you could use a device such as a corn fork to hold the cheese, or you could just crumble the last bit of cheese or wedge it in somewhere and then run the grater over it rather than running it over the grater.