Credit:
Reviewed / Lindsay D. Mattison
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Credit:
Reviewed / Lindsay D. Mattison
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Granite mortar and pestles are heavy and sturdy, and this one from Cilio by Frieling made quick work of every task we threw at it. Read More
This two-cup capacity granite mortar and pestle is sturdy and reliable. It aced all our tests in the kitchen. Read More
Good-looking, sturdy, and with adequate two-cup capacity, this marble mortar and pestle pulverizes, mashes, and grinds very well. Read More
We love the versatility of this handsome bowl, which doubles as a serving dish. The interior surface is rough enough for most jobs. It's a great buy. Read More
Holding a scant two cups, the mortar may not be big enough for all your cooking needs, but it looks lovely on the counter. Read More
If you use a food processor or spice grinder, you might not think you need a mortar and pestle, like our top pick, the Frieling Cilio Goliath Mortar and Pestle (available at Amazon) . In some ways, you could be right: Modern electrical appliances can do everything this ancient tool can do, faster and without the extra elbow grease. But are you sacrificing flavor by tossing pesto ingredients into a food processor, and can you get more out of spices like peppercorns and coriander seeds if you crush them by hand?
After testing nine of the top mortars and pestles, we can say that the food we made in these hand-powered tools had an extra-special quality to them. Doing things the old-fashioned way and crushing the ingredients (instead of cutting them with a blade) released more flavors and aromas, resulting in a better-tasting product. That said, not all the mortars and pestles could handle the tasks we threw at them. The ones that exhibited the highest results and were the easiest to use were made from granite, but we also discovered a few favorites made from stoneware and marble that doubled as gorgeous serving bowls.
Granite mortar and pestles are heavy and sturdy, and this one made quick work of every task we threw at it.
This granite mortar and pestle performed just as well as our winner, available at a fraction of the cost.
Handsome looking
Includes no-slip pad
Comfortable grip
None that we could find
Good looking enough to double as servingware
Easy to grip
Comfortable pestle
Can't compete with granite for texture
Handsome marble construction
Grooved, rough edges inside the bowl
Tall sides
Short pestle
Small capacity
Every task you can throw at a mortar and pestle can be done—more hands-off and faster—by an electrical appliance. Mini food processors or blenders can make pesto and curry paste, and spice grinders can turn hard peppercorns into a pile of dust in a matter of seconds. You can even make things like guacamole without any extra tools—just chop your ingredients and combine them with a fork in a regular old bowl.
So why invest in a mortar and pestle? It’s traditional, and it preserves the way food was made for hundreds of years. Before electricity, how do you think curry paste was made? How about crushing spices to add pungent flavor and fresh aromas to soups and stews? Yup, you guessed it, the mortar and pestle. What makes this device so special is its ability to crush food and mash plant fibers until they’re as soft as a puree. Just use the pestle for grinding the ingredient inside the mortar bowl.
When we compared hand-made pesto in the mortar and pestle with the one we made in a blender, the difference was night and day. Our hard work and elbow grease produced a sauce that had more flavor and aroma as compared to the one made with the stainless steel blades of the blender. Even guacamole tasted better—crushing the onion, garlic, and cilantro before adding the avocado brought out essential oils and flavors that weren’t detectable in our fork-mashed version.
Once you have a mortar and pestle, you'll use it for so much more than grinding spices. Pull it out the next time you make salad dressings or dips; use it to crush fresh herbs to release their essential oils; you can even pulverize fruit for pie filling or baby food. The possibilities are endless!
Pestle size and shape makes a big difference when it comes to comfort and ergonomics.
Not all of the mortars and pestles passed our tests. The stainless steel model wasn’t able to do much more than crush peppercorns, and the marble and stone mortars and pestles didn’t have a rough enough interior to fully pulverize fresh and dried chilies into a paste.
The first thing to look at is the pestle weight, size, and shape. If it’s not comfortable to use, it doesn’t matter how effective it is, so it’s worth being picky in this department. Too-short pestles forced our hands into the mortar, scraping them against the sides, and ones without broad bottoms seemed to push food around the inside without actually crushing it. When you’re looking at the setup, you want the pestle to stick out of the bowl a few inches. Ideally, it’s also rounded on the top so it won’t dig uncomfortably into your palm as you use it. It’s also good if it’s heavy—that means it will do a lot of the crushing for you!
From there, you want a mortar that’s not polished on the inside. The more rough grooves it has, the better; these grip onto the food and help obliterate the fibers to create a paste or puree. Stoneware and marble mortars and pestles have lightly rough insides, but the granite models seemed to do the best job at gripping and ripping. They also felt the sturdiest, not moving around as much as we used them, and we weren’t afraid they might crack and chip like ceramic.
The final factor is bowl shape and size. Mortars that were too wide don’t have adequate rims to keep the food from spilling out as you crush it. This becomes especially problematic with tiny little peppercorns, which just love jumping around on the countertops. When it comes to size, it’s really up to you to decide how you’ll use it. If you cook for a crowd and you want plenty of extra space, go for a mortar with a four-cup capacity. A two-cup model works just fine for most tasks, and anything smaller than that can likely only handle crushing small amounts of nuts or seeds.
Lindsay is a professional chef, recipe developer, writer, and developmental editor. After years of working in restaurant kitchens, she turned to writing to share her passion for local, organic, and seasonal ingredients with home cooks and food enthusiasts.
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