Designed to facilitate, zesting, grating, shredding, and slicing, each side has a different style blade. There is more to this metal contraption than first meets the eye.
FINE
The finest side is most effective on hard and dry food items, and will help you yield a finely grated finished product. Old dry bread becomes powdery bread crumbs.
Hard cheeses like Parmigiano Reggiano, when grated finely, blend smoothly into recipes for meatballs or quiche.
Grating cinnamon sticks or nutmeg will give aromatic powders for baking and cooking.
Although intended to be used for zesting citrus fruits, the oil released from the peel often relentlessly clings to the rugged surface, so they may be best left for a zesting tool.
MEDIUM
The happy middle-ground between a fine grind and a coarse shred. The medium-sized blades will help you prep your way through different fruits, vegetables, and cheeses.
Neither too big nor too small, even Goldilocks would be pleased with the perfect mound of cheese sitting atop her pasta having used her box grater.
COARSE
The side with the largest holes will help you shred, rather than grate, your ingredients. You can shred long spongy courgettes just as well as you can a sturdy sweet potato.
Use the coarse side to shred things like tomatoes for sauces, cucumber for tzatziki, and zucchini for quick breads and marmalades.
SLICER
Before using a mandolin, beginners can think of the slicer side of a box grater as training wheels to practice on.