Crushing spices

corblimey

I'm getting well into my marinades and whatnot these days, so will probably get something this weekend that makes things a little easier. The 3 gadgets appear to be a pestle and mortar, a spice grinder (?) or one of those flavour shaker things from ol Fat Tongue.

I suspect that the pestle and mortar gives the best results, but does it matter as to the quality of the p&m? Can I get a cheapie from Argos, or should I be going to a specialist shop? Or will one of the other 2 give me comparable results with a lot less effort?

Mr Magnolia

The grinders always leave a residue from the previous spice that can be hard to remove and may still be present in your next batch of spices, not at all desirable. The whirry blade grinders are cheap and nasty. You won't get an even grind and they also generate a lot of heat which isn't good for the spices either. Burr grinders are expensive but you're also back to the residue problem.

I've 2 pestle and mortars. A small one for individual spices and a larger one for pastes with spices that I've already ground in the smaller one. Works very well for me anyway.

No experience with the shaker yokes but I can't see how they'd beat a P&M for quality and range of applications.

The Hill Billy

I use a small coffee grinder for my spices. To "clean" it I grind some raw rice which helps gather up the residue & then give it a rub with a pastry brush.

Dizzyblonde

I had a flavour shaker and it was rubbish. I've found that the best pestle and mortar is a granite one because of the weight and hardness. I got mine for €16 in an ethnic food store near me but Argos do one too: http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=30001&catalogId=1500002201&langId=-1&searchTerms=pestle+and+mortar

Alun

Hill Billy wrote: »

I use a small coffee grinder for my spices. To "clean" it I grind some raw rice which helps gather up the residue & then give it a rub with a pastry brush.

Me too. I generally use it for grinding cumin and coriander, and seeing as I generally use both together anyway, any minute amount of cross contamination isn't noticeable, to me anyway.

Curry Addict

i recommend u buy the biggest u can get in an asian shop.

orlanemo

Curry Addict wrote: »

i recommend u buy the biggest u can get in an asian shop.

Agree with curry addict, go for stone of some kind and big. Mine is mid sized and a pain. If your doing indian currys though, use a blender for your ginger/garlic paste with a little warm water. Mushing that stuff up in P&M is a pain. P&M's are the least gimicky thing you will ever buy for the kitchen. Worth it

longshanks

tesco have a small granite pestle and mortar for about 8 euro, dead handy.

Sigma Force

P&M here too, was contemplating getting a flavour shaker but no point really.
Use it most days even if it's just for grinding pepper, pepper just seems to smell and taste better crushed with it.