Only one side of the cheese grater is ever used by the majority of people in Britain, a YouGov poll has found.

Polsters discovered that on a classic four-sided box grater the vast majority of people, 84 percent, opt for the side with the medium raindrop-shaped holes.

Although in strict culinary terms this isn’t actually considered grating, but shredding. YouGov also found that few British people venture to use any of the other sides.

One in three use the side with the smaller raindrop-shaped holes, which is also technically for shredding.

Even fewer, 14 percent, use the side with the small prickly holes, which is the only side that is technically for grating.

The least utilised side of the grate, YouGov found, was the side with wide holes for shaving cheese, which a mere 12 percent of respondents used.

Seven percent of those surveyed said they had never used a cheese grater.

Ben Glanville, Head of YouGov Omnibus, said: “Here at YouGov we do occasionally like to explore the lesser-discussed dilemmas that we face in everyday life.

“Our survey suggests that perhaps all along, Britons have been too embarrassed to ask what each side is actually for, while sticking resolutely to their favourite.”