I’ve long wanted one of those big heavy granite pestle and mortar sets, to be able to properly grind spices and seasonings, etc. Prices seem to have dropped into an acceptable range for me now, so I was out looking at them today lunchtime.
I looked at about six different shapes, across three or four brands. All of them seemed to have quite rough working surfaces, but not rough in a good-for-grinding way; rough in a flaky, powdery, wears-off-as-grit-in-your-food sort of way.
Now obviously anything that grinds will wear (and I know that worn teeth are often an archaeological indication of the consumption of stone ground foods), but in the specific case of modern granite mortar/pestles…
Does the surface typically become more polished and less flaky after initial use?
Have I just happened to be looking at inferior quality items?
Has anyone noticed the palpable presence of grit in food after using one of these?
I use a marble mortar and pestle, and I have not noticed any grittiness. It does a fine job, but can get a bit polished after many uses. I take a few swipes with sandpaper to restore the surface. It takes a little elbow grease, but it works.
I have this one from IKEA, and haven’t noticed any grit. It has fairly low-profile grooves, which help grab things for proper crushing, but they’re not really flaky. I like it.
I have a stone mortar and pestle that I picked up very cheaply at an asian grocery. It looks like this one. I grind spices with it fairly often and have never had any grit. But its surface wasn’t really ever flaky either.
Never had any problems. I have a similar one to what dwyr linked to. It was pretty big (I believe 8") and I bought it for around $15-20 at a Thai grocery store five or six years ago. It’s fantastic and I use it regularly (at least once a week.)
The only time I had problems with a mortar and pestle was when I tried using a molcajete like this one to grind spices and garlic. Grit everywhere. On multiple occasions I ground white rice to “season” it (which is supposed to help smooth out the surface and get rid or minimize the grit), but it never got smooth enough to keep pieces of stone out of my food. So I just gave up on it.
The Thai mortar and pestle, though, never any grit.
If you’re really concerned about stone dust, find a ceramic M&P - I’ve got a little one from a lab supply shop that does nicely for mashing up a few cloves or allspice berries. Filled to the brim, it probably doesn’t even hold half a cup, but for my needs, it’s large enough.
The molcajete is super rough–made from some kind of black stone, not granite. However, the Thai mortar and pestle I have is not slick smooth like some of the other ones linked to. Here’s another image of what mine resembles. This last image probably gives you the best idea. I’ve never liked the marble or metal mortar and pestles–it’s a bit harder for me to get a good grind in there with their smooth surfaces and everything goes flying around. The granite ones have just the perfect amount of roughness on the inside to help tear up difficult herbs to pulverize like lemongrass and lime leaves.
We have two - a stainless one, which almost too smooth to be useful (its primary use as of late is if we need to crush a pill for anything. Aspirin paste. Cure-all.) and a ceramic one. Used to use it for spices all the time, now we have a spare coffeemill, so it only gets occasional use if we want to crush peppercorns or something else in small quantity/coarse grind.
Having owned a Mexican-ish molcajete and using plenty of glass ones for work, I like the ceramic one the best. Just enough grip, without the grit.
American Science & Surplus is one of my first stops if I find that I have an excess amount of cash around. I can quickly get rid of all that nasty money, while getting all sorts of things that I’d never find anywhere else. And usually at bargain prices.
What I’d like to know is what kind of results do you get from a mortar and pestle that you can’t get from a food processor? I know that back before electric appliances, a mortar and pestle were necessary but today I’d think a food processor would give superior results.
I’ve had little luck getting leaves and lemongrass properly smashed up in a food processor. Plus you can’t grind spices in a food processor–you need to use a separate spice or coffee mill for that. For me, it’s just easier to smash everything up in one place and have a very easy clean-up than to get the food processor and possibly spice mill out.
It does depend on what I’m doing, though. If I want my spices ground up to an absolute powder, then I get out the electric grinder.
There is a definite textural difference in meat processed into paste in a food processer and by mortar and pestle. Food processor has a grainy gelatinous feel, mortar and pestle is silky.
I guess if I had a Blendtec, it could be a moot point. My food processor just can’t handle grinding very hard things such as certain spices, especially in small amounts.
