How to Use: Pestle and Mortar

Pestle & Mortars are useful tools if you need to grind herbs and spices into a paste or powder, they can be used for crushing berries, nuts, hard sweets and sea salt.

Our selection of Pestle and Mortars are solid, robust and designed to last; a great addition to any kitchen. Follow our simple step by step guide for using your Pestle and Mortar to perfection.

Granite Mortar and Pestle

A lifetime investment, this beautiful Granite Mortar and Pestle is made from solid polished granite with a non-scratch base. It is ideal for crushing a variety of herbs and spices to infuse food with flavour. It comes in a sophisticated and slick gift box. Size: 12cm x 6.5cm.

pestleandminuse
Granite Mortar and Pestle, €29.95.

Jamie Oliver Pestle & Mortar 

This traditional mortar and pestle set has been made under the recommendation and specification of one of Meadows and Byrne’s favorite celebrity chefs, Jamie Oliver. Crafted from solid granite, the weighty mortar sits well-anchored on the countertop and remains stable during use. The unpolished surface has a rough texture that aids in grinding garlic, whole spices and fresh herbs, and in making pesto, curry pastes and other sauces. Can be used for both wet and dry mixtures. Gift box packaging.

pestle-and-mortar
Jamie Oliver Pestle & Mortar, WAS €33.95 NOW €16.95.

Steps: 

  1. Place your ingredients into the mortar. We recommend filling it no more than one third. If you have a lot of ingredients to grind, process them in batches.
  2. Start with the hardest ingredients adding softer herbs at the end to stop them getting over-worked.
  3. Depending on what you are grinding you need to choose which side of the pestle use. The flattened smooth end is great for finely grinding spices and the rounded textured end is perfect for pulverizing softer ingredients such as fresh herbs and garlic. Then, holding the mortar in place with one hand, take the pestle in the other hand and press and twist it against the ingredients in the mortar. Grind, bash and crush all of the ingredients until they are all at the same consistency.

How to clean your Pestle & Mortar:

Wash with hot soapy water, rinse and dry.

Top tip! If your Pestle & Mortar has started to retain the smells and stains of strong spices, try pouring some dry white rice into the mortar and use the pestle to grind it to a fine powder. Discard the rice and repeat this process if necessary.

Recipe:

Lemon and Rosemary marinade

  1. Crush 2 cloves of garlic in a Pestle and Mortar, add 120g of chunky peanut butter, 2 tbsps of honey and the juice of two lemons. Mix.
  2. Add 1 tbsps of ground ginger , 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper.
  3. Roughly chop a handful of coriander and collect the herbs in a scoop.
  4. Add to the mortar and mix.
  5. Transfer into a salad shaker, top up with 120g of balsamic vinegar and shake.
  6. There you have it, a tasty Asian marinade in moments!
I have owned this exact set for years and it was expensive and hard to find then but now it is back & more affordable , Love Mine . Volcanic Mortar + Pestle $29.00:
Image: Pinterest

 

 

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