Which pestle and mortar is best

Let's just stop and think about this for a moment. We had fire, and we had tools for cutting, and then we had mortars and pestles. And that's pretty much all we had to prepare our food for a really long time. These fundamental instruments of cooking didn't change all that much until the last century or so, when the eras of industry and electricity ushered in new, easy, and speedy appliances, like the blender and the food processor , pushing the mortar and pestle aside.

But for all their convenience, these newfangled jars and bowls outfitted with whirling blades don't do quite the same thing that a mortar and pestle can do. They mince and chop effortlessly, but the mortar and pestle crushes.

Yes, it takes some elbow grease to use a mortar and pestle, but that effort is worth it. And honestly, most of us in this country are so desk-bound these days, a little additional physical activity is hardly something we're in oversupply of. Even if we decide to put in a little extra sweat in the kitchen, success with a mortar and pestle still depends on having the right kind for the job.

There's nothing more frustrating than toiling away at a pesto or curry paste, only to have all that work not pay off. Part of the problem is that not every mortar and pestle design is good for every mortar and pestle task—there are a heck of a lot of jobs that a mortar and pestle can do, and just as many varieties of mortars and pestles to match them all. Making it worse, more and more completely useless mortars and pestles have junked up the market as our use of them has waned; they may look nice, but they don't work at all.

With our loss in familiarity has come a decrease in knowledge of which ones are good for what. It's time to rectify the situation. Generally speaking, and with some exceptions I'll discuss further down, these are the qualities in both large and small mortars and pestles that are useful for most common kitchen tasks:.

Other considerations, such as what material the pestle is made from, depend on the situation. I'll explain further below. Mortars and pestles come in a variety of materials, shapes, and sizes.

Finding a good large one, though, can take some work. A large mortar and pestle should have a roughly eight-inch diameter and at least a four-cup volume. Be sure to check these specs, since many companies sell "large" mortars that have a maximum volume closer to two cups. Though smaller ones can certainly be useful, they also happen to be just the right size to function as displayable knickknacks; the absence of good larger options is confirmation that few people intend to get much use out of these things.

If you want to make a true pesto sauce or Thai curry paste , or any of a wide range of other aromatic sauces and pastes from around the world, a large mortar and pestle is a necessity.

Smaller ones simply can't contain or contend with the volume and variety of ingredients these recipes require. For several years, I used a large ceramic mortar and pestle that I'd bought at a well-known national cookware store. I was thrilled when I first spotted it on the shelf—the only one with a mortar big enough to make real-deal pesto a possibility.

But over time, I began to suspect that it wasn't really up to the task. My pesto came out okay, but it wasn't as emulsified and creamy as it should have been, and it was more than a small chore to make it.

I'd tap relentlessly while making very little progress, and the high-pitched clanging of the pestle against the mortar would quickly drive me crazy. Only later, when I invested in other mortars and pestles, did the shortcomings of that ceramic one become fully clear.

First, the pestle on my particular ceramic set was narrow relative to the size of the mortar's bowl. This made it much less effective, requiring more strikes and movements to crush the food properly, and leaving way too much space for all of that food to escape to.

Its narrow shape also made it act more like a pool cue than an implement for crushing things: With each strike, the food would shoot out to the sides, often still whole. Ceramic is also a challenging material for many mortar and pestle tasks in the kitchen.

It's very hard, like stone, but also more brittle. Where it should excel at crushing tough ingredients, it doesn't, because the force required could crack the ceramic. For this article, I compared three large mortars and pestles: the ceramic one that has failed me for so long, a Thai granite mortar and pestle, and a Mediterranean marble mortar with an olivewood pestle.

Here are my favorites of the three. With both parts made of rock-solid granite, the Thai mortar and pestle is literally a heavy hitter, and arguably the most versatile type of large mortar and pestle you can own.

Its heft and weight, especially when combined with the stone-on-stone action that the all-granite build provides, make it ideal for one of its intended uses: making a Thai curry paste. The large stone pestle can break down leathery dried-chili skin and tough seeds, and bust apart the fibers in some of the tougher aromatic vegetables, like galangal and makrut lime leaves.

Because the inside of the mortar bowl and the pestle head aren't polished, they have slightly abrasive surfaces that also make them good for grinding. This advantage is particularly apparent when you're grinding dry spices, which the Thai mortar and pestle did better than the other varieties that I tested. In a pinch, you can also use this type of mortar and pestle for pesto and related sauces, though it doesn't do quite as good a job as the Mediterranean mortar and pestle recommended below.

The granite pestle head is fairly large, but not quite large enough to break down tender basil's more delicate fibers as quickly and effectively as the Mediterranean wooden pestle. In my tests, the Thai mortar and pestle yielded a slightly stringier pesto than its Mediterranean counterpart, though the results were still good, and much better than what emerges from most food processors.

It's also worth noting that the Thai granite mortar and pestle doesn't generate the shearing forces necessary for forming a really good emulsion; this, again, is related to the pestle's slightly smaller size. This means your pesto may not come out quite as creamy or you'll work harder and longer to get it there , and you'll have a much harder time forming a mayonnaise or aioli in it. One more downside: The Thai granite pestle is heavy, which means your arm will feel more fatigued more quickly.

Maybe that's a good thing if you're looking for creative ways to sneak some extra exercise into your life, but it's a challenge you should know about before committing to this design. In the south of France, Italy, and other Mediterranean regions, marble mortars with wooden pestles often made of olivewood are quite common. It's next to impossible to find this variety in US stores, unless you get lucky and find one at an antiques shop or estate sale.

They can, however, be ordered online. I bought mine through an Italian vendor on Etsy , and it's an object of pure beauty. More importantly, it excels at making pesto and similar sauces, as well as emulsified sauces like mayonnaise and aioli.

Before electric mixers and blenders, a mortar and pestle was often used to make these sauces. The texture makes it good for pastes, like the garlic, ginger, and chile mixes common in Indian recipes.

Beyond the hand-me-downs, Agrawal uses a larger marble mortar and pestle for recipes that need emulsifying, like pesto. The large bowl helps, too, so I can make a big quantity at one time. It probably wouldn't work as well for my ginger, and I like the brass one for roughly pounded spices, so it's important that I have all three!

Used to make salsas and guacamole, as well as crush dried chiles and cinnamon sticks, molcajetes sit on three short legs that lift the bowl off the tabletop, making them as much about presentation as they are about utility.

Zepeda's was hand-carved in the state of Jalisco, a wedding present for her mother: "It was an honor to inherit it," she says. But even mortar and pestle lovers admit the tool has limits. Agrawal relies on a coffee grinder when transforming anything particularly hard, like fenugreek seeds, into a powder, and uses a Vitamix blender to make spice mixes in large quantities.

I love the feel of the pestle—and I love that each one has a story. Long-lasting and nonporous, marble and granite mortars and pestles provide a very hard base for grinding spices, seeds, and nuts—as well as a smooth surface for cleaning. The lack of texture means you can easily collect and use every speck of spice from the bowl without losing any to crevices or cracks. For quickly crushing coriander seeds, whole cardamom pods, and similar spices that don't need to be blitzed into a fine powder, Agrawal uses a brass mortar and pestle that was once her mother's.

You use your palm to rotate the pestle around rather than pounding. The pestle has added grooves underneath, which help to capture spices and hold them in place. For all of the products mentioned in this review, various retailers have been suggested by our affiliate partner Monetizer and are not suggested or chosen by BBC Good Food. For more information on how these retailers are selected and the nature of our partnership, please read the Monetizer FAQ page.

They can be considerably cheaper than buying an electric grinder and are much easier to clean as well. Consider what you use your pestle and mortar for.

Do you need a generous-sized bowl for large quantities of pastes? Or something smaller just to crush spices? And if you are using it a lot, consider something that would look good out on the kitchen worktop too.

Comfortable to hold. I wanted designs that made good contact with the mortar. Material They come in marble, frosted glass, cast-iron and wood to name but a few. For more product picks, visit our reviews section.