Mortar & Pestle Seasoning???

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WhateverYouWant

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Ok, I'll admit I'm stumped by this one…

I have a new mortar and pestle: this one is made out of granite. The instructions say to prepare it for first time use by scrubbing with water and a sponge, and then fill with rice and grind until you have dirty rice powder. Then repeat the process until the powder is clean. That certainly seems to make sense.

But then it goes on to say… "add 2 cloves garlic, coarse salt, a handful of cumin seed and bit of whole coriander. Grind everything into a paste, making sure it covers all sides of the mortar, letting it remain in the mortar overnight. And then rinse out with fresh water."

Why in the world would I do this? What does it accomplish? And is there a better way to accomplish the goal without wasting garlic and whole spices?

Really looking forward to your responses on this one!

-SiP
 
Then put everything in a paper bag, go out on your front lawn, swing it over your head, and scream like a chicken!
 
Seriously folks, you really do need to season a new molcajete
...

Well, yes, it needs to be seasoned. But, what's up with the garlic and spices in the instructions that Scott got? This lady doesn't do that. That's the part that doesn't make sense without some sort of explanation.
 
Mortar & Pestle Seasoning???

I think the assumption is that you will be grinding those and similar spices so this preps the stone so flavors won’t get absorbed by the stone.
 
Andy...

How does leaving a paste of garlic, cumin, and coriander in the thing overnight prevent flavors from getting absorbed by the stone?
 
Larry, please! at least wear your Speedo, I know it's all only skin but ...

Actually the garlic part does sort of make sense. You are sealing it with the oil of the garlic. I'm imagining that the other spices give the garlic something to rub against and become a paste rather than a gummy glue.

I have not looked any of this up but this is what my brain is visualizing.

Paste is easier to clean out than a gummy glue which you would have to wash with soap and water thereby undoing all your efforts.
 
Here's what I did with my molcajete, many years ago, when I first got it. I hope this helps.

First, after realizing that it was very porous, I wanted to seal it, otherwise, the foods would soak in, and the usual garlic and chiles would make a permanent home there! There are some food safe seals for wood bowls, and the like, but I didn't want to use oil based types, since they would take a long time to cure, soaking deep into the stone. So I got some food grade water base polyurethane. I did what many say do do, which is grind some rice, until there is none of the stone visible in it, grinding it dry, in between each batch. Then I washed it out thoroughly with plain water, and let it dry for several days. Then, I used a sponge brush to soak the top and inside of the molcajete with the food grade polyurethane, not putting as much in as would soak in, figuring that would take much longer to cure. It dries very fast, but I let it sit a couple of days in between each coat, so it could cure. After the second coat, I started turning it over, to soak it, from the bottom. After the third coat, much less was soaking in, and after the fourth coat, nothing more soaked in, so I wiped that out, and finished the underside. I also put 4 coats on the pestle.

After this cured for about a week, I made some silicone feet for the molcajete, to help keep it sturdy, as well as not scratching counters. I just cleaned the feet with acetone (dries almost instantly), put a dab of clear silicone seal on each foot, then put a piece of waxed paper over it (the thing I found separated the easiest, from the cured silicone seal), and a piece of scrap plexiglass, which I pressed down lightly, until I saw the seal flattening out, just enough. Then I let them cure, and peeled off the waxed paper.

Here's a photo just now, showing the inside of the mortar, plus how the upper edge is still shiny, since it was done in the mid 90s. And a foot, showing the silicone still on after all this time! The feet need to be freshened up, but they are still there! The pestle I even put in the DW, occasionally, and that has stayed good, all these years, and even things like Thai curry paste come out of both, not leaving those potent aromas.
Molcajete, sealed over 20 years ago, showing the shiny edge. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Foot of molcajete, showing the silicone, still on since the mid 90s. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The granite mortar didn't soak up much at all, and was much smoother, but the silicone seal was good for a non-stick base.
Silicone base, on bottom of the granite mortar. by pepperhead212, on Flickr
 
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Andy...

How does leaving a paste of garlic, cumin, and coriander in the thing overnight prevent flavors from getting absorbed by the stone?

Scott, I didn't express myself very well, though I knew what I meant.

If the bowl already has absorbed the flavors, flavors won't be absorbed as much when you're preparing a meal and will remain in the food you're cooking.

That was the thought I was trying to share. Not sure if it is technically correct.
 
I'm afraid I need a little more guidance from you folks on this. I decided to just clean/season the thing using filtered water. While the bottom of the mortar cleaned up pretty quickly, yielding clean water… scraping the sides of the mortar with the pestle still results in cloudy water. I have repeated the process dozens of times and am about to the point of just pitching this thing into the trash.

I am using filtered water with zero PPM of total dissolved solids, and what I am currently getting is cloudy water with about 5 PPM of solids. 5 PPM of TDS is just fine with me as my tap water is about 25 PPM, but the cloudiness of the water concerns me as I am guessing these are not dissolved solids, but fine granite particles.

So I ask… if you add clean water to your mortar until 1/3 full, and run the pestle around the sides of it for a minute or so, does the water turn cloudy?
 
I am not talking from experience here but from what everyone has said... I rather think that if you grind your dry rice and keep doing it until the powdered rice stays white... you will have done the job.

Is that more work than constantly filling with water and grinding?
 
I rather think that if you grind your dry rice and keep doing it until the powdered rice stays white... you will have done the job.

Rice stays white. Mostly because I'm guessing that:

1.) It stays at the bottom of the mortar, which produces clear water as well.

2.) The cloudiness of the water that results from running the pestle along the sides of the mortar is also white, which would not discolor the rice.

This is why I asked folks to check their mortar output with clean water while circulating the pestle around the sides to see if the white cloudy water is expected, or I just have more cleaning to do.
 
I read all that too and what I did instead was:
Over the course of several hours and two or three days, while watching TV, I just ground the tejolote (pestle) into the molcajete (mortar) with a little water. As the water got muddy, I replaced it with fresh. The bottom of the molcajete and both ends of the tejolote eventually got pretty smooth. The sides smoothed out some but not as much.

Tain't sayin' its right; just what I did.

Sealing stone with garlic and cumin didn't make sense to me either.
 
ok, thought I'd read that you grind until the rice stays white and doesn't turn grey from the granite.

So you are saying the even though the dry rice stays white you get a colouring in the water when you grind against the sides.

So now maybe I'm guessing you will always get a powder from the sides until such time as you are able to grind the sides smooth. I'm not quite getting all this but I don't have one. I have others, marble, wood, porcelain (2) but not granite. Interesting.

I think my mom brought this pictured one back from Mexico (or Asia, not sure) jade green stone - I went on line and the only other one like it that I could find was someone selling it in a garage sale! bizarre!
 

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Granite is composed of mostly feldspar, and quarts. It often contains mica and other minerals in small amounts. It is formed as molten lava cools. Depending on the ratio of quarts and feldspar, grinding granite will result in a grey, white, or brown dust. Since your mortar gives a white, cloudy appearance when the pestle is rubbed against the sides of the mortar, I would suspect that you are grinding away some of the stone, and that your mortar granite has a large amount of quartz in it. Th quartz is inert to you. If you keep grinding the two granite implements together they will continue to grind away granite. The earth does this naturally. It's called erosion. Go ahead and rinse out your tool. It sounds like it's ready for use. The food you grind should minimize any granite to granite contact.

People have been ingesting stone ever since the first person ground grain between two stones. And then came stone grinding wheels. I think you will be ok.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

Here's a good video on seasoning your mortar and pestle -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc6ftOt1Hf0 .
 
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ok, thought I'd read that you grind until the rice stays white and doesn't turn grey from the granite.

So you are saying the even though the dry rice stays white you get a colouring in the water when you grind against the sides.

So now maybe I'm guessing you will always get a powder from the sides until such time as you are able to grind the sides smooth. I'm not quite getting all this but I don't have one. I have others, marble, wood, porcelain (2) but not granite. Interesting.

I think my mom brought this pictured one back from Mexico (or Asia, not sure) jade green stone - I went on line and the only other one like it that I could find was someone selling it in a garage sale! bizarre!

I have one of those. I bought it because it's pretty and I thought it would be more useful than it is. I had hoped it would be good for those things that tend to fly out of a mortar as you crush them. I suppose it is, but then I can only crush a few seeds at a time and it takes a lot of pressure. It just doesn't seem to work like a regular mortar and pestle. Hmm, I don't remember if I have ever tried using it for garlic.
 
I would suspect that you are grinding away some of the stone, and that your mortar granite has a large amount of quartz in it.

You're probably right. Straight out of the mortar, the water looks like a half cup of water that had a small amount of milk added. It takes a tremendous amount of time to settle, so I poured it into a martini glass and let it sit out overnight. Here is what I saw this morning:

mortarDust.jpg


Note the dust is quite white, very fine. It didn't even settle to the bottom center of the glass but rather deposited all around the surface. That oval area with no dust was caused by me lightly wiping my finger, and after doing so I could not feel any grit between my thumb and forefinger.
 
More silliness. Buy heavy granite/similar mortar and pestle. The heavier the better.
Wash it in hot soapy water. Dry.
Proceed with use.

Oh Onion.......Slice on board with any flat side down. Never do it like my mother did it. You can still cut your self doing it the correct way. I know. I cut myself not long ago. Why? Knife was not honed and slipped off onion skin.
 
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