So I’m back, back again, with another bizarre TikTok trend. This one is spicy. Is it me, or does everything seem fiery lately? Honestly, I won’t mind when the flamin’ hot era of the internet is over. This time, TikTokers are bringing the heat with an oldy-but-goody: jalapeños. This time, influencers are freezing jalapeños and using rasp graters to coat their food in what they call “jalapeño dust.”
Testing Jalapeño Dust
Most of the videos showcase this green powder being shaved atop savory, carby things like pizza, potatoes, or mac and cheese, but others shave it and eat it as is—as in with a spoon. Do not ask me why. This trend got me thinking. Firstly, is this good? No one (or very few people) on social media ever says what they’ve made is subpar. Everything is fire or so good. I don’t believe anyone. So, as a born skeptic, I decided to try it for myself.
I froze a few jalapeños, grabbed a rasp-style grater (aka Microplane), and got myself something carby to grate them on. I opted to grate my jalapeño on tomato focaccia instead of pizza because I cannot abide pizza that’s not piping hot and I knew my testing vehicles would potentially be sitting around the test kitchen for a few hours. Focaccia typically tastes great at room temperature or hot, making it perfect for this test.
Unfortunately, even warm, the focaccia with the frozen jalapeño dust was not a revelation like every video implied, but it wasn’t bad. The contrast of cold and icy yet spicy on the bread was definitely unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. While my reaction to the jalapeño dust was an enthusiastic meh, Serious Eats editorial director Daniel Gritzer was decidedly not a fan of its flavor or texture.
Ultimately, the entire Serious Eats culinary team questioned why you would do this. When a jalapeño (or anything) is grated so finely, it defrosts pretty quickly. While I know that freezing a high-moisture food will make it grate more efficiently and actually seemed to prevent the jalapeño from causing my eyes to water, I can’t think of a time when I would go out of my way to use this technique. It just tasted like cold, concentrated, jalapeño flavoring. Why would you want that? And when the focaccia was heated, the jalapeño dust disintegrated into mush. I understand that there are committed spice stans out there who are always looking for their next spice fix, but jalapeños aren’t even that spicy.
The Case for—and Against—Grating Other Frozen Foods
While we ultimately gave the grated jalapeño a failing grade, we knew that this cheffy technique of grating frozen food had some reasonable and well established applications, especially in fine dining circles. (Think a flurry of foie gras grated atop your dish tableside.) So, we figured: Why not try freezing a grating a bunch of foods to see if you should whip out your Microplane for your next dinner party or snack?
I tested a wide variety of savory foods and various fruits, grating them atop either the focaccia or Greek yogurt. The yogurt’s mild, savory base complemented the sweet shavings, allowing the vibrant flavors of the fresh fruit to shine without being overshadowed by additional sweeteners.
Foods That Are Worth Freezing and Shaving
Salami
After the jalapeño, I tried shaving frozen salami atop the focaccia, using Nostrano pink peppercorn salami. Grating frozen cured sausage was a recommendation from Daniel, who’s done it in the past to bring a punch of sausage flavor to various dishes. The salami required a lot more muscle to grate than the jalapeño, but it was well worth the effort. The glorious meat shavings dusted a piece of plain focaccia like a deconstructed charcuterie plate. I was wowed by my first bite—there was only a light dusting but the meaty, peppery flavor was robust. It was as if shaving the meat concentrated the flavor. If cold salami sounds gross to you, you should know that by the time it hit my lips, I could hardly tell the meat had been frozen—it was just cool to the touch. The next time you want to liven up your plain piece of hearty bread, pizza, pasta, or focaccia, I highly recommend a dusting of salami.
Mozzarella
We already know grated cheese tastes wonderful on top of bread, but frozen grated mozzarella has even more salty, umami flavor than mozzarella eaten right out of the fridge, and a small dusting of frozen mozzarella seriously punched up my focaccia. (Sticking a ball of mozz in the freezer briefly is also a good way to make it easier to grate with a regular grater.)
Bananas
I’m one of those weirdos who doesn’t eat bananas, ever really. There’s something about the smell that doesn’t sit well with me. Luckily, frozen bananas do not have a smell! When shaved, they have a sweet, fluffy consistency, like, dare I say, ice cream? Not quite, but it makes a nice shaved ice, and a small amount of banana dust sweetened my yogurt nicely.
Apple
For this test, I chose bright red Macintosh apples, and I loved watching the red and white flecks fall atop my yogurt when I grated it. The apples’ texture changed quite a bit after being frozen—it was much smoother than I expected. The taste was bright and fresh, like biting into a fresh off-the-vine apple. I was into it.
Pear
Despite its less-than-ripe state, the pear I froze and grated offered a unique sweet-tart flavor that was both concentrated and juicy. However, it turned mushy and brown quite quickly, which was unappealing, so eat this immediately if you do try it.
Taste Pretty Good, but Don’t Bother
Mushrooms
After the success of the frozen salami, I tried shaving another savory ingredient onto my focaccia: a frozen baby bella mushroom. I’m not usually a fan of raw mushrooms but this light dusting of fluffy, earthy mushrooms was compelling. I enjoyed the concentrated mushroom flavor that was released by the fine grating, but unfortunately the mushroom shavings very quickly melted and got mushy. Perhaps a cold application would work best here, such as in a salad. But after brainstorming various uses for grated frozen mushrooms in the test kitchen, we were really at a loss as to when this technique would make more sense than more traditionally prepared mushrooms.
Mango
I had low hopes for the mango since the fruit I was able to find for testing was not at peak ripeness, so I was pleasantly surprised by how grating concentrated its fruity flavor. It was juicy and bright and lightened up an otherwise flavorless yogurt. Still, grating a whole frozen mango is highly annoying since you have to peel or cut it before freezing it to avoid grating through the thick skin. I wouldn’t do it again since pre-frozen mango cubes are readily available, and I could easily grate those instead.
Lime
The lime wasn’t nearly as bitter as the lemon I tested (more on that below), likely because of the lower pith-to-pulp ratio, and freezing the lime seemed to slightly intensify the flavor, so I might consider doing this again if I didn’t have enough lime for a recipe and needed to stretch the flavor. Otherwise, if I need lime zest, I’ll just use a fresh, unfrozen lime.
No. Stop. Don’t Ever Try This.
Avocado
Among the savory things I grated was an avocado, which tasted very much like nothing. Finely grating avocado is basically the same as mashing it, only much more difficult. Hard fail.
Tomato
Offseason tomatoes are truly sad, and even the ones labeled heirloom were watery red vessels that tasted like ghosts of their summer selves. Would you want your Italian ice to taste like tomato juice? No. I do not recommend this.
Lemon
I was hoping that freezing a lemon and grating just past the pith would deliver a concentrated flavor, similar to the previously-tested fruits. I was wrong. It was more bitter than any lemon you have ever tasted. Do yourself a favor and stick to fresh (non-frozen) lemon zest or juice.
Peach
In my opinion, out-of-season fruit should just be discontinued. I regret even attempting this with peaches in the spring in the Northeast; it was as if the peach was frost-bitten. I will try this again once peaches are in season because I know in my heart that frozen peaches are good.
Bottom Line
I hate to admit it, given my initial suspicions, but I enjoyed the vast majority of the foods that I froze and shaved, especially the salami and pretty much all the fruits. However, I could not imagine manually grating even one whole piece of fruit, and if I tried it would be melted into mush by the time I finished. They make shaved ice machines for a reason.