Handy Little Grater

I stopped buying shredded cheese when I noticed that cellulose was one of the added ingredients. While pre-shredded cheese was so handy to add to salads, quiches, casseroles, etc., I'm trying to eat fewer additives.  An ABC News story considers cellulose one of the "7 Grossest Things in Your Food":

Cellulose is usually made from nontoxic wood pulp or cotton, and the cheap filler is stuffed into shredded cheese, salad dressing, and ice cream to thicken it without adding calories or fat. Cellulose is fibrous, which is why it appears in so many high-fiber "healthy" snacks and breakfast cereals -- and it's even in organic products, according to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal.

Here's another story about cellulose in food, and here's another. Apparently wood pulp is a popular additive in processed foods. But I don't care for it. What to do? Shred my own cheese!

I bought this little grater at Dollar Tree for, well, a dollar.

Does it work? You bet! A hunk of cheese is way cheaper than a package of pre-shredded cheese, too.

It takes no time to shred a bowlful of cheese from a block of cheddar. And the results look better than what comes out of the packages.

Two months ago, on my Peevish Pen, I posted a recipe for crustless quiche that uses 3 cups of shredded cheese. Yep, I shredded my own. Couldn't have done it without my cheap little grater!

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