Part I
To understand what kind of mortar we need on the farm, we first find out what its purpose is, what work it does in our premises. skillful hands? The answer to this question determines what kind of mortar we need.
The fact is that the task of turning something into dust involves two jobs - crushing and grinding. Which are fundamentally different in terms of the application of brute force. In the first case, the force is applied vertically - impact, in the second - horizontal - friction force.
The form of mortars is thus reduced mainly to two types. Which one exactly?
Grinding any products is more convenient and easier to do in a circular motion, so the optimal mortar intended for grinding should have a flat (grinding stone) or hemispherical (mortar) inner surface and a cylindrical or close to hemisphere grinding surface of the massive pestle.
Narrow and tall glass-shaped mortars, as opposed to low and wide ones, are designed to withstand impact loads, that is, grinding.
But this is not all the requirements for a mortar, because you can pound and grind substances both dry and containing different quantities aggressive and not very aggressive liquids, resulting in either a powder or a paste. And this is precisely where the difference in the mortar material comes from.
Obviously, the properties of the material must meet these tasks - not fall apart from impact, not deteriorate from moisture, not absorb anything unnecessary and not season the products processed in the mortar with its own dust. From here important properties mortar materials with a plus sign:
- hardness, that is, the ability to withstand external pressure, abrasion resistance (resistance to abrasion) is also associated with this.
- plasticity - the ability to deform without ruptures or destruction
- density, that is, the internal structure of the material, which is directly related to impact resistance
- chemical resistance
There are no pros without cons, which are a continuation of the advantages:
- softness
- fragility
- porosity, i.e. ability to absorb moisture, food colors and odors
- chemical activity, i.e. ability to interact with crushed products
It is from this stove that we will dance.
Part II
Let's start, so to speak, by seniority. Stone mortars were the first to appear in our everyday life. Pieces of rock - granite and basalt were lying here and there around the cave, you just had to choose the right ones. Only the flat stones did not yet know that they were future mortars, and the round stones did not yet know that they were the pestle. Like an apple, a rounded pestle rolled on a saucer, rubbing everything that came to hand - grains, seeds, roots, vegetables, nuts, fruits. Over time, the middle of the flat stones became slightly deeper and the edges rose, and the pestle turned into something like a rolling pin, or even bent into the shape of the letter “g”. Similar archaic mortars are still preserved, for example, in India (pata varvanta, sil bhatta), in Indonesia (cobek and ulek-ulek), in Mexico (metate and metlapil), for grinding vegetables and spices, grains, rice, corn, cocoa beans and preparing vegetable pastes such as guacamole, sambal or masala and curry pastes.
And although mortars over time acquired a more civilized appearance - and became such as molcajete and tejolote in Mexico or krok hin in Thailand, basalt and granite have retained their importance to this day. The hardness, density and abrasive resistance of these materials are the highest among natural stones. The disadvantages of basalt include poor polishability, so spices and pastes obtained in such mortars have a heterogeneous, rough structure.
But polished granite and mortars made from other natural stones, once called semi-precious: jasper and chalcedony - agate, onyx, carnelian, cope well with this. All these stones are perfectly polished, have excellent hardness and density, and as a result, it is quite easy to obtain fine powders of incense and spices and smooth pastes from them.
They also have one general disadvantage- all stone mortars run the risk of splitting when hit from the heart, so you can only grind them in them. The best properties Jade is one of the natural stones - its impact resistance is several times higher than that of some metals.
The undoubted advantage of all stone mortars is that they do not absorb water and do not react with the sour juice of fruits or with dyes.
With one sad exception - marble does not withstand the given conditions. Its hardness is much lower than other stones, it absorbs moisture quite well and reacts even with weak acids - citric and acetic. Do we need it? What to do if you already have a marble mortar? Don't throw it away. If you carefully grind only dry spices in it and prepare non-aggressive pastes, for example from baked garlic or onions oil based, it will serve no worse than others.
Part III
Another ancient natural material for mortars is wood. It is clear that in a forested country like ours, wooden mortars were widely used, but they were not ground, but pushed. Large wooden mortars are still used in Japan (usu and kine) to extract rice flour and starch from glutinous rice.
Even medium-hard wood species - oak, Canadian maple, not to mention the hardest ones - boxwood and dogwood - are suitable for mortar-glasses, in which it is convenient to pound. The fact is that the properties of wood are such that the impact strength of end cuts is tens of times higher than longitudinal ones. That is, in human language - if the mortar and pestle are turned or hollowed out like Pinocchio, in the longitudinal direction of the fibers of the log, the strength of the pestle and the bottom of the mortar will be higher than that of some metal ones. That is why we made oatmeal and all other oatmeal in narrow and tall oak mortars with a thick bottom. They also crushed poppy seeds into them and pressed flaxseed and hemp oil from the seeds.
One of the obvious advantages is that wood does not react with food acids and alkalis.
But on the downside: it perfectly absorbs odors and food colorings, and most importantly, moisture, which is why sooner or later even the hardest wooden mortar will crack.
The most popular mortars, solidly carved from hardwood, are intended rather for dry, semi-dry or oily products - herbs, seeds, nuts, etc., have sufficient hardness and strength and allow not only pounding, but also grinding. The oil film that forms on the wood over time will protect it from absorbing moisture and cracking. Cheap glued mortars are the least durable and more susceptible to moisture.
The ratio of the pros and cons of a wooden mortar, like no other material, depends on the nobility of the breed, and the best of them serve more as a gift option than are really necessary on the farm. That is, say, an ebony mortar decorated with intricate carvings, donated by a beloved mother-in-law, or an Indonesian version of a palm wood mortar brought as a gift by a colleague/boss is unlikely to leave anyone indifferent. Since olive mortars are often offered in a matching gift set with olive oil and olives, it is logical that olive tapenade paste - best use for such a gift.
Part IV
But we cannot wait for favors from nature, and we came up with porcelain, which has no less hardness, strength, moisture and chemical resistance than natural stone. And a short time after the appearance of porcelain, pharmacists adopted it, and since then doctors and chemists have been using porcelain “sets”. Porcelain mortar and pestle (suribachi and surikogi) allow Japanese women, for example, to obtain the finest rice powder or homogeneous soy miso paste, grind sesame for goma-dzio or leaves and seeds of Japanese pepper for seasoning - kinome.
The main disadvantage of porcelain - fragility - can be overcome quite easily due to the thickness of the wall and careful handling of it. Porcelain is by no means intended for hammering nutmeg or even just black and allspice into such a contraption with all its might. This is, to put it mildly, inconvenient and impractical. And there is more suitable material for this.
Part V
Over time, humanity decided to improve and streamline nature again. Metals were a great gift for such experiments. With a fairly average surface hardness, inferior to stones, porcelain and even some types of wood, metal, due to its internal structure, has very high impact resistance, or is capable of increasing this very strength and hardness during processing. The surface of metal mortars is highly polished, which makes it possible to obtain very fine powders and crush, for example, nutmeg or dried ginger almost into dust.
Historically, the first in this competition was copper, and its derivatives - bronze (originally an alloy with tin) and brass (originally an alloy with zinc). Bronze and brass have very useful property– high resistance to abrasion. This property is very useful for hand mills for coffee and spices. By the way, coffee ground not even in an antique, but in just an old brass mill is somehow tastier than in a soulless modern coffee grinder. Bronze and brass millstone parts are a good choice and for modern artisanal pepper grinders.
But for the beaker mortars from which we choose the right one, abrasion resistance is not the main advantage.
Pure copper has high ductility, which means it easily changes shape upon impact, while bronze is the most fragile of copper alloys, so brass mortars, which have high impact resistance, are preferable. The highest chic will be silver-colored mortars made from the latest alloys - cupronickel (originally a copper-nickel alloy) and nickel silver (originally copper with nickel and zinc).
But the problem is that the surface of such mortars in the hothouse conditions of the kitchen is high humidity, aggressive atmosphere and elevated temperature, as well as upon contact with acids, it becomes covered with a greenish-brown coating - patina. What's good for artistic products and monuments, then it’s bad for you and me. The components of the plaque - malachite, verdigris and others - are complex and simple poisons. How to deal with this? It’s elementary, as they say, Watson – clean, clean and clean again. It is not for nothing that in all literary monuments of past centuries such attention was paid to cleaning metal (read copper) utensils. Internal surfaces in contact with food should shine like a polished one. copper basin.
Following the Bronze Age came the time of iron, cast iron and steel.
“Cast iron” as a material for mortars is inferior to brass and bronze, because although it is stubborn, it is fragile - if desired cast iron mortar can be easily split. In addition, cast iron, being porous, absorbs moisture and rusts, which is a big disadvantage. But pounding water in a mortar-glass is not very convenient, so this disadvantage is easily negated by using metal mortars and mills for their intended purpose - only for dry spices. And can be easily eliminated with careful care - wipe with a dry cloth or paper or dry after use and store away from kitchen stove.
Iron and steel, although stronger than cast iron, also rust quickly and well, unless this iron is meteorite. But this is already from the realm of fantasy. The reality is that technological progress, which cannot stand still, has not bypassed routine homework And stainless steel brought ancient mortars to the level of complex mechanical devices - electric mills and blenders.
Glass containers and steel parts that do not absorb foreign odors and moisture and are not subject to aggressive environment, and most importantly, the modern power of these kitchen monsters makes grinding a process not even worth mentioning - the cooking time is reduced by so much, and all the disadvantages of previous generations of mortars are eliminated. However, it subjectively seems to me that along with the shortcomings, the warmth and soul that fill the ancient mortars, no matter what they were made from, go away, because the slow process and consistent addition of components in the mortar allows the aromas and flavors to be properly released, and most importantly, mixed during the grinding process products used.
Literature and materials:
1. “Clay tablets or stone tablets. How to preserve your memory for centuries", Illustrated manual on cuneiform, Sumer publishing house, 5000 BC
2. “On the influence of wood density on Pinocchio’s mental abilities,” Magazine “Woodborer,” ed. L. Alice, 1827
3. “The Jade Rod or Memoirs of a Former Mandarin,” an unpublished manuscript from 1149 (presumably) found in a fishing village on the island. Taiwan.
4. “Gloss”, magazine of the Society of Meissen Porcelain Lovers, Germany, 1865.
5. " Stone Flower- ten steps to success." A guide for beginners, 1898, Mednogorsk printing house
6. “The use of Mr. Nobel’s new materials in stone-cutting art,” magazine
“Factory Bulletin”, 1905, Kolyvan
In our village, in every house there was also an Austrian copper “mosder” (bronze mortar and pestle). And I couldn’t understand why it was needed and why my grandmother treated this “rarity” so carefully. Now that we have actively begun to get involved in cooking food from, this item has become indispensable for us in preparing seasonings.
One day you will outgrow the usual store-bought spices in bags, and you will want to grind fresh seasonings yourself, for which the most the best tool there will be a mortar and pestle. Spices, garlic, nuts or seeds, crushed in a mortar, release natural aromas and oils; you will immediately notice the difference in taste! 
You will improve your culinary skills several notches.
The mortar is a small bowl, and the pestle is a wide stick, shaped to fit into the recess of the bowl, in order to perfectly grind and grind everything that comes between the pestle and the bowl.
They can be made of wood, metal, stone or ceramics. Choose the material that suits you based on your culinary and personal preferences.
To prepare, for example, kutya (grinding poppy seeds and nuts in large quantities), we use clay makitra and makogon.
If a recipe requires using crushed rather than ground spices, this means that they do not need to be ground into powder.
A mortar and pestle is great for making herbal butter, crushing garlic for garlic croutons, making hummus, making almond butter, or making old-fashioned flour.
for preparing seasonings
You can start with simple things, for example, making a mixture of different peppers (black, red, allspice) or grinding cinnamon.
If you add dry herbs to regular coarse non-iodized salt: suneli hops, basil, marjoram, dill and parsley, bay leaf, peppermint, coriander and red pepper, and grind, you will get an excellent mixture, an analogue of the Georgian Svan layer.
in the magazine “”, there was an article about spices and the following recipe was given:
- 1.5 tsp. dried oregano,
- 1 tsp. ground cloves,
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. paprika,
- 0.5 tsp ground ginger,
- 0.5 tsp salt,
- 0.5 tsp ground black pepper
Seasonings instead of dry cleaning
Try using dry rice to get rid of stubborn odors and stains. Sometimes it can be difficult to remove stubborn stains and odors from strong spices. An excellent way to get rid of them is to finely grind dry white rice, which should absorb the smell and color of the last crushed spices. Replace the rice and repeat the process until the ground rice remains white after grinding.
Based on sources
One day you'll outgrow the usual store-bought spices in bags, and you'll want to grind fresh cinnamon, cloves, pepper, cumin and other seasonings yourself, for which the best tool is a mortar and pestle. Spices, garlic, nuts or seeds, crushed in a mortar, release natural aromas and oils; you will immediately notice the difference in taste! Take the first step to learn how to use a mortar and pestle, and you'll take your cooking skills up several notches.
Steps
Choosing a Mortar and Pestle
Grind the spices with a pestle to the desired consistency. Hold the mortar with one hand and, holding the pestle with the other, grind the spices in a rotating motion until the mixture becomes homogeneous. Grind, crush and crush the spices evenly by moving the pestle along the bottom and sides of the mortar. Continue until you reach the desired grind level.
- Below are other techniques for grinding and crushing spices, each of which will allow you to achieve a different consistency, which will affect the taste and smell of the final product.
Store or use spices. You can either pour freshly ground spices into glass jar with a tight-fitting lid, or measure and use them to prepare the recipe.
Other grinding techniques
- Place the ingredients in a mortar and hold it with your hand.
- Hold the pestle firmly and comfortably in your other hand.
- Use the rounded end of the pestle to press firmly on the ingredients and rotate it around its axis.
- Grind until you achieve the desired result.
Explore other grinding techniques. This option is ideal for use in baking, making sauces and other dishes. You can grind the spices to a coarse, medium or fine grind.
Larger spices and seeds can be crushed by lightly hitting them with a pestle. If any part does not lend itself or is simply too large, carefully, but hit it firmly with the pestle. You can then change your technique to get a finer grind.
- Grind the ingredients first. This will reveal the stronger particles and make it easier for you to grind them.
- Push or press. Using the wide end of the pestle, gently press down on the stubborn seed or piece. Make short and precise strokes to speed up the process and save energy.
- To prevent the spices from spilling out during the process, cover the mortar bowl with your hand or a cloth.
- Grind again if necessary. When most of the ingredients are ground, a few light, random strokes with the pestle will help finish the crushing.
Use the crushing technique. If a recipe requires using crushed rather than ground spices, this means that they do not need to be ground into powder. The technique described below can also be used for processing garlic.
- Place the ingredients in a mortar.
- Rotate the pestle to pop and crumble the ingredients.
- Continue until all ingredients are crushed but not ground.
Cleaning the Mortar and Pestle
-
Clean the mortar and pestle after use. The cleaning method depends on the material your mortar and pestle is made of. Refer to the instructions included with them for proper cleaning. Below are the most widely used methods:
- If the mortar and pestle can be washed in dishwasher, you can use a regular loop.
- If they are not dishwasher safe (such as wooden sets), wash them in warm water and dry thoroughly before storing them.
- If you are grinding dry ingredients, then simply wiping the tools with a dry, clean towel is usually enough.
-
Do not use detergents without the need. As mentioned above, many mortars and pestles are slightly porous and can absorb some soap, which will then affect the taste of your next grind. Rinsing with warm water and wiping dry is usually sufficient to clean these items.
Try using dry rice to get rid of stubborn odors and stains. Sometimes it can be difficult to remove stubborn stains and odors from strong spices. A great way to get rid of them is to finely grind dry white rice, which should absorb the smell and color of the last ground spices. Replace the rice and repeat the process until the ground rice remains white after grinding.
- Some herbs contain oils and fibers that form thin but strong plaques on the surface of the mortar that are difficult to remove. If you can't peel them off with the tip of a knife, try soaking them in warm water or alcohol. If the plaques are dry enough, you can sand them down with fine sandpaper.
- Other uses: Grinding medicinal products (such as aspirin to dissolve in water), grinding natural dyes to a finer consistency, grinding pet food pellets, etc.
- Crush rather than beat to avoid damaging stone or ceramic mortars and pestles.
- What else can you do with a mortar and pestle? Try the following: grinding fresh herbs into a fine paste (great for making herb butter), crushing garlic for garlic croutons, making hummus, making almond butter, or making old-fashioned flour.
- Check with your pharmacist before crushing medications; Some medications cannot be chewed or crushed and must be swallowed whole.
Warnings
- One note about crushing: Ceramic, stone, and wooden mortars can break if hit too hard or if nothing is placed in them. Most metal mortars are designed to crush relatively soft components to avoid pitting and chipping.
- Please note that mortars and pestles, once used for grinding toxic or harmful substances, can no longer be used for cooking food. Instead, remove them from the kitchen and store them with the rest of the tools you use in your hobbies, gardening, or chemistry experiments.
- Check with your pharmacist before crushing medications; some are absorbed too quickly if crushed.
- Never crush or chew coated (gastro-resistant) medications. These medications look like clear capsules with powder or liquid inside. Otherwise, you may get a serious stomach upset.
- If you want to make your own mortar and pestle, never coat the inside with varnish.
Another textile Baba Yaga doll has appeared in the world. The lady is stately, rich (she even has a means of transportation) and a busty fashionista.
You can see it in the photo, I already talked about the skirt.
And today I’ll tell you how to make the surface of a stupa. The stupa itself is made of papier-mâché (several layers of newspaper first, then napkins with PVA glue on a base of thick watercolor paper, placed on a tin can).
The surface is slightly rough. All this should dry very well. There are many layers, I dry it in 2-3 layers. The process may take a week or more.
I cover it with a mixture of black acrylic and construction varnish. Drying.
I apply more relief with a glue gun.
I paint it with brown acrylic paint and varnish, partially leaving the black color uncovered in the recesses.
I tint with lighter shades of brown. I always add a little varnish to the paint.
It turns out several layers of paint and varnish.
I shade it with metallic acrylics (silver here).
When everything is dry, I spray it with varnish spray.
Why do I add varnish to paint? I once encountered such a problem when using colorants for acrylic paints. When applying the next layer of paint, the previous one began to float and mix with it. As a result, translucent multi-layering did not work out. That is, you need to either varnish each layer, or select paints that will not mix. If you simply varnish the current paint with a brush, the paint will still flow. And spraying varnish in layers means enduring the stench. Therefore, I found a solution - adding varnish to the paint. I take construction colors and mix them on a palette with construction acrylic varnish. The result is permanent paint. And you can mix different shades of necessity.
That's all the wisdom.
And here is the culprit of the long drying and layer-by-layer painting.
This video is about how to make a stone bowl, mortar and pestle from ordinary cobblestones with your own hands. To do this you will need a cobblestone, an angle grinder, several attachments and 1 hour of free time. Modern household tools cut granite, almost like wood. Hard stone is processed even faster after wood. Surprisingly, the mortar is pleasant to use for its intended purpose. The pestle fits comfortably in the hand. Grinding pepper in such a mortar is difficult. Freshly ground pepper, especially with your own hands, is always more aromatic, and food tastes better with it.
As an experiment, lawyer Egorov, the author of the video, baked rainbow trout over a fire and used spices ground in a stone mortar. This is not very practical, the mortar is heavy, but the process brought not only gastronomic, but also aesthetic pleasure.
Given the unexpected ease of processing granite, the author plans to find a granite boulder and make a sink from this material. Polishing the inside of the sink will be even easier since it has a less curved surface.
In such a bowl it is appropriate to store keys or small change in the hallway. In the interior modern kitchen This mortar looks very brutal. And in nature it looks organic and natural.
The process of making a stone mortar.
To begin with, I went to the quarry and selected several stones as a material. The work is dusty, so workplace organized under open air on a compost heap made of geotextile mesh. By the way, very comfortable compost heap in every way.
Do not work as shown by the author with an angle grinder! When processing stone (for example, when processing a pestle), there is a decent chance that the hand with the grinder will come off and the cutter will enter the palm of the left hand. Spend a little time and secure the product and never (!) hold the item being processed in one hand and a grinder in the other! Remember - you have 1 left hand and one is right, and there are no spare parts!
To select a recess in the stone, I made several cuts in the stone with a diamond disc, then used a chisel and hammer to gouge out the main volume of this recess. Since it was not possible to make slots of the desired depth in one cut, the recess had to be modified by making shallow cuts in a checkerboard pattern. In the whole undertaking, choosing a hole in the cobblestone is the fastest and easiest operation. It takes much longer and more difficult to level and polish roughness on the inner curved surface. Polishing a flat or convex surface is not difficult.
With some skill, you can even out the roughness with a cutting disc. But it is more convenient to work with a cutter with a larger working surface.
There is a thick layer of moss as the base on which the stone lies. Wet moss retains most of the material, but professionals and ordinary masons recommend using a loose substrate - sand or earth.
After processing with a rough diamond cutter, noticeable risks remain. It is convenient to sand them using a fiber stone disc. In total, three such discs were used with different abrasives, starting with 24 grit. After it, the risks became significantly less. Then I changed the disc to 60 grit, after which a gloss appeared on the treated surface. I finished sanding with 80 grit abrasive. After that all that was left was polishing. The performance of such a disk turned out to be higher than expected; it hardly wears out.
Everything is ready for polishing. The so-called turtles, that is, nozzles for polishing stone. IN right hand nozzles for dry polishing, on the left for wet polishing. Only dry polishing attachments were used here. These attachments have 3 grit levels. 100, 500 and 1000 grit. The main problem is that they are not designed for polishing concave surfaces and you can only work with the edge of the disc; it wears out quickly. On a concave surface, these discs had almost no effect. The shine was achieved using a petal disk. Making this bowl is more fun than business, the master did not try to achieve ideal surface, but I just wanted to give you an idea of working with stone.
Cutting off the flat base of the mortar turned out to be quite simple. To ensure that the bowl stood on a flat surface of the table and did not move, the master used an improvised surface plate. To do this, I stained the stove with oil chalk and rubbed the bottom of the mortar on it. The protruding parts have become dirty; all that remains is to remove them and obtain a relatively flat plane.
The bowl is ready. To use it as a mortar, you need a pestle. Theoretically you can take ordinary stone, but traditionally, for convenience, the pestle is made oblong and with a neck. This will make it comfortable to hold in your hand. During work, it is recommended to protect the respiratory organs from dust, the hearing organs from noise and, first of all, protect your eyesight. As a result, it turned out that the stone was given the shape of a stub. Its working surface was also rounded.
To process stone, just a few attachments on the grinder are enough. After the first experience of working with stone, I got the impression that it would be possible to carve a full-size bathtub from a boulder in just a couple of days. Next is a video about creating an unusual mortar from stone with your own hands in one hour.