What Smashes, Mashes & Grinds Anything To A Pulp? Norpro’s Mortar & Pestle!
Written: Apr 08 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Attractive design, extremely sturdy, crushes almost anything.
Cons: Retains the smell of whatever you grind, heavy.
The Bottom Line: Kitchen essential or deadly weapon? You decide...
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| Freak369's Full Review: Norpro Marble Mortar and Pestle |
If there is one thing that I love about baking is the smell of freshly ground and grated spices. Anise, cinnamon and nutmeg are three of my favorites to use in recipes but also three of the hardest to work with in their raw form. In order to get the best taste and aroma from these you have to make sure that you have the right kitchen tools, hence my review of Norpro’s Marble Mortar & Pestle. I had been looking for just the right one for several years and until I came across this one I was using an old wooden one that had seen many better days. If you do any amount of baking this is a very helpful tool to have on hand for crushing up spices or seeds but you really need to do some research on them before you commit to a purchase.
After I saw this and made my purchase I immediately ran home to try it out with some anise seeds that I picked up in bulk at Henry’s Marketplace. The heavy smell when I opened the bag took me back to my childhood when my grandmother would labor over cookies and sweets for us to devour. Sadly, I never paid attention to her recipes and now spend my time trying to figure out exactly what the heck she put in the baked treats that made them so heavenly. I was using anise extract and it never had the same intense flavor that I remembered from my childhood. A chef suggested that I try using the anise seeds, ground up finely, instead of the liquid extract. I tried to do the smashing and mashing by hand before purchasing this set and the end result was a sore hand and some very stubborn seeds that looked the same as when I started.
The Basics
This mortar and pestle set is made of solid marble with the colors varying from light gray to white. Since you are dealing with marble the color blends will be different from set to set. There were only two boxes on the shelf when I purchased mine so I didn’t have much to pick from and in all honesty, the looked about the same. This is part of a marble series from Norpro with other items including a utensil holder [692] and paper towel holder [939]. This is great to know in case you are looking to color coordinate your kitchen accessories or are looking to purchase several similar looking items as gifts for a bridal shower.
When you pick up the box you better be careful because this thing is heavy. I’m not talking a few pounds – I am talking about six to seven pounds. The small scale that I have in the kitchen only goes up to five pounds and this went way over the maximum. The inside of the mortar is about two and a half inches deep so you will have plenty of room to move the spices or seeds around when mashing them up. The mortar is four inches high and four inches wide and has a very nice shape to it so it not only looks great but it is easy to hold. The pestle is about six inches long and tapered so it is very easy to hold and use. The inside of the mortar is grooved so you get quicker results. If it were slick and shiny it would take forever to grind anything up since there would be nothing to provide friction. The outside of the mortar has a high glossy sheen to it and looks great when it is sitting on the counter or shelf in the kitchen. The pestle is completely finished, with the exception of the grinding surface at the base, and has the same high gloss as the outside of the mortar.
How To Use It
I’m not a chef so these are just my general instructions on how to use this particular mortar and pestle. Take whatever it is that you want to grind or mash and place it into the mortar, with the pestle firmly in hand work in a circular motion from the outside to the inside of the mortar. Things like anise seeds will require a lot of pressure to grind it into a suitable grit for baking how other things like dried parsley only take a few seconds to break down. The instructions on the box are rather generic and useless – “crush herbs, spices or nutmeats with a rotary motion, pressing them around the sides of the mortar”. Sometimes I get a little frustrated after a few minutes of grinding [with no visible results] and start to reenact the shower / stabbing scene from Psycho. take that you anise seeds! All it takes is a little patience to get the right motion going and then you are well on your way.
The Downside
Since the inside of the mortar is grooved there is a good chance that you will find it extremely hard to clean. I used this for dried parsley after I ground up anise seeds and was less than thrilled with the overpowering scene of licorice being present in the parsley. No matter what I tried to clean the inside of the mortar, it still had the scent of the anise in it. I tried using extremely hot water with dish soap, soaking it in hot water, wiping the inside with a lemon and even grinding uncooked rice inside it to try and absorb the scent but nothing seemed to work. I’d read about how to prepare a mortar and pestle before using it but since the manufacturer didn’t include any information about this I didn’t think that it was necessary. In hindsight I wonder if I should have followed some of the instructions that I came across on the internet to protect the inside of the mortar. As it stands now I can only use this for grinding up anise seeds unless I want everything to taste like licorice.
The Bottom Line
Even though I’ve had a small problem with the inside of the mortar retaining the smell of the anise seeds I can honestly say that this thing has made a world of difference when trying to recreate my grandmothers recipes. If you are in the market for a mortar and pestle set I encourage you to do some research to see if this would be the best one for your needs. These retail for about $12.99 however they can be found at Marshall’s for about $7.99 - $8.99. The Norpro Mortar & Pestle is extremely sturdy and will handle a lot of use and abuse in the kitchen and was well worth the price that I paid for it. Now if I could just get the smell out of it ….
As always, thanks for the visit …
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2003 Freak369
Other kitchen essentials …
OXO 9 Inch Black-Handled Meat Tenderizer
Pro Grip Large Tower Grater
Sunbeam Jumbo Oven Thermometer
Recommended:
Yes
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