I love cheese.  I eat veggie burritos at least once a week, and quesadillas almost as often.  Naturally, I get the good stuff—Tillamook medium cheddar cheese.  In the interest of saving money, I usually buy it in the large one-pound loafs.  These babies are great thing to have in the fridge, but when it comes time to grate, complications arise.

The main problem is the sheer size of the loaf.  Using a standing cheese-grater, or worse—a hand-held grater—the large block of cheese is terribly ungainly.  It’s too large and heavy to hold easily in one hand an apply the necessary pressure to get a good, efficient grate going.  For the past few years, I’ve suffered through the first half block of cheese, grunting with effort, standing on my tippie-toes, and laboriously grating away until, a couple weeks later, the size of the block is finally manageable.

Fortunately, I’m blessed with an exceedingly clever family—one that encourages innovation and always seeks the best approach to any task.  Enter the pyramid cheese block:

Photo of a pyramid-shaped block of Tillamook cheddar cheese

All of the credit here must go to my smart and talented brother, Miles.  If there’s anybody that likes homemade burritos more than I, it’s Miles, and he wasn’t willing to accept the drudgery of conventional cheese-grating.

Here’s how it works:

Place the block of cheese at a 45-degree angle against the grater, and begin grating.

Once your angled shave reaches the center of the block of cheese, rotate the block 90 degrees and resume grating.

Repeat these steps twice more, and you’ll have a perfectly pointed pyramid of cheese.  Say goodbye to your struggles as the strands of cheese fall effortlessly onto the cutting-board.

Photo of a block of cheese being grated at a 45-degree angle

The physics of this process are quite simple: angling the block of cheese allows for greater leverage—it’s easier to push the block downwards when your hand is positioned nearer to the line of cheese-grater contact.  Secondly, the triangular shape of cheese that actually contacts the grater is significantly smaller than the full square of the block, which greatly reduces friction.

Next time you’re struggling with a big block o’ cheese, just remember the Miles Cheese Pyramid.

Note: Cheese isn’t very good for you and I don’t recommend making it a large part of your diet.