March 26, 2023 - 2:53am
Grating chocolate tip
I was grating a semi sweet chocolate bar and as usual the loose chocolate gets magnetized and starts to creep up my steel box grater and threatens to make a big mess when trying to get the bits where they should be. So I thought...would putting a magnet on the grater make it worse or tame these wee dancing flakes?
Turns out that within a minute of contact (or less) to my pin up board magnet, all the flakes fell off the grater onto the plate below. Grater clean, mess avoided. Sticking the magnet on before grating might also be a handy thing to know. Just passing this on to y'all.
Ready to test on other flying bits like psyllium husks.
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Comments
Mini - Thanks for posting this tip. I'll definitely put it to use.
Tony
Cool Mini, thanks for sharing the tip.
Benny
I am having a hard time rationalizing magnetic chocolate. I suspect that what you are seeing is static buildup on the grater which dissipates when you stop handling it. Your post was from February when the air was probably very dry. See if you can repeat it when the kitchen is above ~65% humidity.
and see. Or not. Always had a problem with finely grated chocolate. Static electricity for sure playing a role but the magnet really helps keep the chocolate bits behaved. i would say the grater is magnitized.
I also wondered if this was static build-up (triboelectric effect). Is it possible that the magnet helps dissipate the static charge? Magnetism is not my forte.
First you need a way to determine how long it takes for the chocolate flakes to fall off the grater when you set it down. Perhaps a video could capture that but it would have to be clear what is happening. Then you could compare the use of the magnet and not doing anything and just letting the grater sit and shed chocolate flakes.
Second you could put a layer of aluminum foil on the counter and put the grater on that and then do it with and without the foil, again timing how long and how much chocolate falls off of the grater.
Maybe you have some other ideas. Try anything you can think of and see what makes a difference. Then bring the data back here so we can see what you are dealing with. Humidity might make a difference. Air speed might make a difference. A plastic grater might be worse.
Static will bleed off if you just wait. I suspect the time it takes is independent of the use of the magnet.