Learning to Use a Mortar and Pestle

thewitchyandtheturtle:

This was taken from a Group on Facebook, thought I would share it here! 

Learning to Use a Mortar and Pestle
This tool will allow you to create wonderful, healthy foods and bring out the essential oils and flavor essences of your herbs and spices in a natural way.

You can also consider it an effective tool to use when the power goes out. Just as you may have a hand grinder for wheat and you’ll now have a hand food processor.

A small glass or porcelain set will be good to grind tablets and medications. Used as a kitchen tool you can make sauces and mix spices with it. 

Just so you know – the word mortar comes from the Latin word mortarium, which means “receptacle for pounding” and pestle comes from the Latin word pestillum, meaning “pounder”

Before You Use Your New Mortar and Pestle the First Time:

Just like a new dutch oven, you need to clean and season your new mortar and pestle. This process will clean out the stone dust that is inherently left during the manufacturing process (assuming you purchase yours new).

Wash it in clean water, without detergent and let it air dry. In fact, you should never wash it with soap unless you want your fantastic creations tainted with it. You should always use it dry, a wet mortar might gum up your dry ingredients.

Roughly grind a small handful of white rice. Discard and repeat until the rice grinds white. It will take several grinds. If you have a white mortar and pestle, plan on grinding three times. This is somewhat cumbersome in the small mortars but is great practice and you should be a grinding pro by the time you’re done. If your mortar has a tendency to slip on the counter while you are learning, put a non-skid shelf liner under it.

Next add 4 cloves of garlic, mash and muddle.

Add 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper to the garlic. Grind it all together, enjoy the smells, and discard.

Wash it again in clean water, without soap, and air dry.

In their book, Alchemy of the Mortar and Pestle, D & P Gramp suggest this rule of thumb when adding ingredients:

Driest ingredients first (dried herbs and spices, flour, etc.)
Moist ones next (garlic, onion, brown sugar, fresh herbs, etc.)
Oily ones next (anchovy, nuts, oils, cheese, butter, etc)
Wet ones next (lemon juice, stock, vinegar, honey, soy, etc)
Taste and add salt if needed

For those of you here who are witches or if you are simply an herbalist, you also know that you can make many things with the use of a pestle & mortar.

The book Alchemy of the Mortar and Pestle by D & P Gramp is chock full of recipes. Not only do they give some background on this wonderful tool, their recipes are easy to follow. 

Resources:
https://www.facebook.com/thepagancircle
http://preparednessmama.com

I love my mortar and pestle, I have a soapstone one as well as a wooden one. the wooden one I use for things like salts and resins, while the soapstone I use for my herbs and roots. 

With all magickal tools, keep them safe from small hands, because its easy for them to pinch their fingers. Also, make sure you at the very least wipe out the inside of the mortar after each use with a damp paper towel or cloth. (especially if you use yours for resin)

Try to have one that is used for Food grade preparation, and another for Magick. This way, any poisonous herbs you use in incenses and such are not contaminating your delicious food.