1940s Mouli grater

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If you have one of these cluttering up a kitchen drawer, it could be something of an antique, a tool from nearly 80 years ago.

Called a mouli grater, the two-piece device has a little square hinged basket that flips back and forth, or open and closed, and that sits on a cylindrical grating wheel along with the other key ingredient — often hard cheese — to be grated.

Those parts, in turn, are held in place by the second part, another hinged arm with a curved shovel-like blade that flips around so you can clamp and press the food into the grating rotary with the desired pressure.

The mouli takes two hands: one to clamp and one to crank. But unlike scissors, it’s ambidextrous — and accessible — so both sinistrals and dextrals can use it.

Some further trivia: apparently, the mouli was an early precursor brand to coffee-grinder Moulinex, which appeared in the late-1950s.

The company, it seems, likes to grate and grind things. I get that.

(Image/Wikimedia Commons)