We tried the TikTok cheese grater cleaning hack with lemon and dish soap

Cleaning the cheese grater after cooking mac and cheese is never a fun job. We always feel like we're tearing up the sponge and it's hard to get the grater looking as good as new.

How to clean a kitchen isn't rocket science, but having some tricks up your sleeve can make the process a lot easier. So we tried the lemon cheese grater cleaning hack we saw on TikTok this week - and although it left the grater gleaming, it felt a little wasteful.

The hack, which you can watch below, involves cutting a lemon in half and drizzling a little dish soap over the cut edge. You then scrub the grater with the fresh lemon, and rinse with warm water.

In the TikTok video, Carolina McCauley makes the hack look incredibly easy. I took my cheese grater, which was covered in cheese, and scrubbed it for around 10 seconds. 

When it came to rinsing, I had to use my washing-up sponge - rather defeating the point of the hack. And there were still a few marks around the edges of the holes.

cheese grater cleaning hack

@carolina.mccauley

Simple trick to clean your grater 🍋🧽🌟 ##cleaningtips ##tipsandtricks ##homehackswithcarolina ##cleaninghacks

♬ TWINNEM - Coi Leray

But on the second go, I scrubbed it for a little longer and it worked really well. A quick rinse with warm water and the stainless steel was shining.

There are lots of brilliant ways to use lemon to clean your home in other areas, but we think this hack uses up a lot of lemon for the amount of cleaning you actually get done. I'd only use this hack again if there were some really stubborn stains I was struggling to remove.

It does work really well on the stainless steel of a cheese grater - and we guess you could use the lemon to shine up a kitchen sink or other steel surfaces afterward.

In the comments, some TikTokers were loving the lemon cheese grater cleaning hack, while others weren't so convinced. You could just as well use your best washing up liquid and cleaning the grater upside down - or put it in the dishwasher.

It does leave your cheese grater so shiny you can see your face in it, but we'd rather use the lemon for some fresh lemon and ginger tea. Would you try it at home?