I’m going to buy a mortar and pestle for grinding herbs. What material should it be made from?
I had no idea that there were so many materials that these things were made from! One mortar and pestle is for foodstuffs, and the other is for medicinal herbs. Hope that helps. Thanks all.
Tags: material, Should, grinding, Herbs, fromRelated posts:
Smooth stone. The rough stone ones are hard to clean.
Stone.
a marble one will work great for herbs
I’ve seen a couple different ones, but I would think that if its for grinding herbs you’d want a marble one. Marble won’t let the tiny little pieces get caught in the mortar. It’s easily brushed out and then cleaned.
Stone or cast iron.
Mortars and pestles are made out of everything, from glass to wood. There are some larger counter top sized units that are made out of granite and marble. They do make smaller ones like what your looking for out of Basalt. Basalt is a very hard wood made from the grapevine and is very resilient to the grinding, while remaining light enough to handle well.
Whats best depends on what your doing with it.
I have three.
One set is solid granite, weighs in at close to 15 pounds, for pounding Thai style curry paste, for any thing that requires the use of force it’s the best. Put a silicone mat under it and pound as hard as you like.
The second is ceramic, 5” across the top and is used for nearly everything that doesn’t require heft and solidity.
Lastly I have a small 3” ceramic that is used for saffron, and saffron alone
the pharmaceutical M & Ps.
They do the best job on herbs and spices,
as well as small amounts of garlic, etc.
A highly desirable feature is that they absorb nothing.
You can even put them into the dishwasher to remove any vestige of whatever you have last pulverized.
No carryover scents or flavors.
Very reasonably priced as well
so you can get several sizes if you desire.
Here’s an inexpensive one from a “science fair” company that would be perfectly fine for kitchen use. Or try other places in the internet.
http://www.thesciencefair.com/Merchan...
I like the Marble Mortar and Pestle for the price and I don’t think it’s a good idea spending a lot on a utensil that won’t be used that often.
http://www.amazon.com/RSVP-White-Marble-Mortar-Pestle/dp/B000BUB58K/ref=pd_sim_dbs_k_3
I suggest buying a Mortar and Pestle that is made of ceramic. The best online shop I had found with the best mortar and pestle in sale is
http://www.hometrainingtools.com/mortar-and-pestle-80-ml/p/CE-MORTAR/