My kitchen is full of all kinds of appliances and utensils that have one purpose. A garlic press, a citrus juicer, an egg cooker — I could go on and on. So when I find out that one of those single-purpose items can actually be used for more than one purpose, I’m ecstatic. Especially if it means I get to save space in my tiny New York City apartment without having to buy another kitchen tool. In this case, I can skip buying an herb trimmer and just use my cheese grater instead.
Here’s how the trick works: Stick the stems of your herbs inside the holes of your cheese grater. Pull the stems, and the motion will rip the herbs off the stem easily while the leftover stem slots through the hole. It’s really as easy as that!
This trick works well for all kinds of herbs: parsley, cilantro, basil, oregano, mint. For the herbs with smaller leaves like thyme and rosemary, use the smaller holes on the grater to make sure the leaves will actually come off during the pulling process.
Keep in mind that if you want to keep your herbs fresh for as long as possible, you’ll want to avoid destemming them right away. The best way to store fresh herbs still requires the stem, so wait to do this trick until it’s time to cook or garnish with these herbs when you’re in the kitchen. This will ensure you have the freshest, best-tasting herbs when it’s time to use them.
Now that you have fresh herbs to work with, it’s time to get cooking! Maybe a homemade pesto after all that destemming? We also love this TikTok trick of cooking eggs in pesto. You can also never go wrong with a garlic-butter tortellini with lots of parsley.
