Mortar and Pestle: What Is It and How Do I Use It?

Glass Mortar and Pestle

A mortar and a pestle are actually two stand-alone items that are sold together and work together.  Basically they mash things up, things not really mashable with a fork.  In my case that usually means whole spices.

I bought a mortar and pestle some years ago because I thought it looked cool, but I only started using it when I began liking the taste of Szechuan peppercorns.  They were too expensive to put in a pepper mill, so I ground them up in my mortar and pestle.

A mortar and pestle sitting out on the counter makes you look like a real cook.  This combo is relatively cheap—as little as $4 in some stores, although much higher in others.  That’s for the smallest size mortar (a small bowl), which can be made of glass, wood, stone or ceramic.  The pestle (a miniature club) is usually made of the same substance. 

Here’s how it works: put a teaspoon of peppercorns, coriander seeds or similar hard spice in the mortar and carefully pound them with the pestle.  Use your free hand to cover as much of the mortar as possible while pounding so the spices don’t jump out onto the counter.  When you’re done, the spices may be ground down to a powder or are at least a lot smaller than they were.

In some countries large mortars are used to grind meat and make hummus.

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