I Slice, Grate, and Chop Everything With This Rotary Grater
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When I was growing up in upstate New York, grating cheese with the turn of a wrist was reserved for one place: Olive Garden. The Italian American chain was always a special-occasion restaurant for us, and part of what made it feel celebratory to eat there came from watching the server make Parmesan rain down until someone dared to say “when.” It wasn’t until I was in my 20s that I realized I could have this cheese-on-demand system at home, any day, any time with a rotary grater.
I have used anOXO rotary graterfor more than a decade now, but it is reserved for hard cheeses like Parm. Anything softer needs to be frozen to grate without smearing all over the blade, and the grating blades are simply too small to properly take care of cheddar, mozzarella, or anything that comes in a block. Freshly shredded cheese has a different texture, especially when melted, than pre-shredded bags, which are coated with a starch or anti-caking agent so the cheese doesn’t stick together. I have always preferred to grate my own cheese and even have a whole section dedicated to it in my cookbook,Big Dip Energy, on why it makes for superior textures and the meltiest cheese pulls. But like everyone, I’m sure, me and my box grater don’t always get along. Sometimes it cuts me, sometimes it isn’t sharp enough to evenly grate the cheese, and there’s always that little nub at the end that can’t make it through.
So when TikTok started serving me constant content about the Susteas rotary grater, which appeared in videos to shred and slice any cheese or vegetable with ease, I had to try it.
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The main advertised blade is the 6-mm. shredding blade, equivalent to the big holes on a box grater. In clip after clip, I watched shredded cheese cascading from this grater into a bowl quickly and evenly. Unlike the handheld rotary graters at Olive Garden and the OXO one I’d used before, the Susteas grater base locks with suction and a lever to the countertop so it is sturdier and easier to use. In my testing, it didn’t slip once. The food “pusher” that doubles as a hand guard made sure all the ingredients I tested stayed firm against the blades (and that I didn’t cut myself), and it worked exactly in my kitchen as it did in the videos I saw. I demonstrated how it works for a friend and demolished a block of cheese in less than a minute.
I peeled potatoes and carrots and cut everything to fit into the chute — which is a 3.5-by-3.5-inch square — but that was the extent of my prep time. The slicing blade cut the potatoes into 2 mm.-thick uniform slices to make a gratin with all the cheddar I shredded. I shredded carrots with the 6-mm. blade for a salad, and others I crinkle-cut with the wavy slicing blade for dipping. I also tried the 2-mm. julienne blade with onions, but it all got stuck and instead juiced them. The slicing blade was much better, and I was able to sauté those onions and use them in the gratin, too.
The added safety is a big plus. I will always reach for this grater now instead of my mandoline for slicing when possible for that reason, and this would be great for kids or clumsy adults to use. (Just don’t let kids handle the blades themselves!)
The Susteas grater is as simple to maintain as it is to use. To put it together, you snap one of the blades into a rack that slides into the barrel and is tightened and twisted into the crank handle. That all goes into the suctioned base, which is the only part that cannot be put in the dishwasher. Every other part of the grater, including the blades, is dishwasher safe, but I found it easier to just quickly rinse and hand-wash, because the barrel and blade rack are both wide enough to get a sponge — even a big ol’ Scrub Mommy — in for a scrub. It is about the size of a bullet blender as far as counter space goes, and the blades all nestle in the included storage box. The only downside is that there isn’t a lid for that to stack and store everything together, but that’s just a minor quibble when my house can be just as joyous as an Olive Garden.
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