Grate Garlic More Fashionably With This Little Ceramic Tool

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Fresh garlic adds a pungency to your favorite dishes, allowing you to get the most or the least flavor to suit your preferences. The most potent garlic taste comes from crushing its cell walls to release the compound allicin. There are a myriad of methods for preparing garlic, including using the flat side of your knife or a spoon, chopping or mincing it, using a garlic press, and grating it. Grating garlic is an excellent way to lower the chance of burning it, allowing for a more even cook. If you've been worried about making mistakes with a garlic press, there's an even more convenient and stylish device you should be using. A grate plate is the simple tool your kitchen has been missing.

With origins in Roman antiquity, ancient Spain, and even earlier, modern iterations of the grate plate (sometimes called a grater plate or grating plate) are typically made of ceramic materials with ridges in the center where you can rub a clove of garlic against it to yield evenly grated pieces. In addition to garlic, these grate plates can be used to grate ginger, turmeric, whole spices, and even hard cheeses. These plates can range from plain and simple, like Bamboo's Advanced Ceramic Grater Plate, to fully designed and matched sets, like the BonCera Ceramic Garlic Grater. This meeting of fashion and function can also extend into serving, as you can mix your grated garlic with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and serve the mixture right from the grate plate alongside a hunk of crusty bread.

With any kitchen tool, selecting the right grate plate for you will come down to a few different factors. For one, it's worth deciding how it will fit into the grand scheme of your kitchen decor and whether or not you wish to keep it out for display or put it away in a drawer or cabinet to retrieve for specific use. Bigger grate plates are ideal for grating larger quantities of garlic, ginger, turmeric root, or cheese, but might be more cumbersome for keeping on a countertop. If you go for a grate plate with a design, you'll also want to choose something that complements the established vibe of your kitchen.

As far as function is concerned, it's essential to get a brush that will help gather up the granules of food for serving or cooking and also keep the plate clean in between uses. Using a small amount of either water or oil on the plate prior to grating is especially helpful to help loosen the grated particles, as garlic can get particularly sticky once it's been crushed. It's also worth noting that, unlike a garlic press, your cloves of garlic or roots of turmeric and ginger should be peeled prior to grating for ease of use and consistent results.