SC - medieval graters?

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

And it came to pass on 8 Dec 99,, that Stefan li Rous wrote:

> I think we have
> plenty of proof of period knives and mortars. Do we really have proof of
> graters being used in period? They would be easy to make, but so are
> sandwiches. So any proof folks? 

I know of two pieces of textual proof.  De Nola (1529) mentions a 
cheese grater (rallo de queso) in one recipe.  And graters appear in 
Chiquart's list (1420) of necessary kitchen equipment.  I have Mistress 
Elizabeth's translation, but not the French original, so I do not know 
what the original term is.

> What did they look like? Single plates of
> metal with holes punched in them?

I think at least some of them must have been.  The recipe from de Nola 
that calls for a grater is for a kind of cheese dumpling.  The dough is to 
be forced through the holes on the reverse side of grater, and allowed to 
fall into boiling water.  You can't really do that with a box grater.


Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net
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