I shredded a block of cheddar last week for nachos and spent more time picking cheese out of the grater holes than I did actually grating. By the time I was done, my fingertips were orange and the grater looked like it had been through a war.

Then my roommate walked over, grabbed the cooking spray from the cabinet, gave the grater a one-second mist on each side, and handed it back. “Try now.”

The cheese slid through like the grater was greased. Which, I guess, it was. I felt stupid and grateful in equal measure.

Why this works

Cheese sticks to metal because it’s fatty and slightly tacky as it warms up from friction. A micro-thin layer of oil creates a barrier between the cheese and the metal. The cheese can’t grab onto the surface, so it falls cleanly away instead of gumming up the holes.

How to do it

It really is two seconds. Hold the cooking spray about six inches away, give the grating surface a quick mist, and grate immediately. You don’t need to soak it or let it sit. The oil layer stays effective for an entire block of cheese.

If you don’t have cooking spray, dip a paper towel in a tiny bit of vegetable oil and wipe it across the grater surface. Same idea, slightly more work.

What about the cleanup

Here’s the bonus nobody told me: the grater is easier to clean afterward. Since the cheese didn’t weld itself into the holes, a quick rinse with hot water takes care of most of it. I used to need a scrub brush and ten minutes of aggressive scrubbing. Now it’s thirty seconds under the tap.

The oil residue rinses off with hot water and dish soap. Nothing lingers. Your next batch of carrots won’t taste like cooking spray.

Which cheeses this helps most

Soft and semi-soft cheeses benefit the most: cheddar, mozzarella, Monterey Jack, gouda. Hard cheeses like parmesan don’t stick as much to begin with, but it still makes cleanup faster.

Soft fresh cheeses — fresh mozzarella, goat cheese — you shouldn’t be grating those anyway. They’ll just smear.

I’ve started doing this every time now. Two seconds of spray saves me five minutes of cleanup, and I don’t have orange fingertips for the rest of the evening.