Emily’s Pepper Mill: Mortar and Pestle

Emily Han
Emily Han
Emily Han is a Los Angeles-based recipe developer, educator, herbalist, and author of Wild Drinks & Cocktails and co-author of Wild Remedies. For recipes and classes, check out her personal site.
updated Jun 5, 2019
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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

My favorite pepper mill isn’t really a pepper mill at all – it’s a mortar and pestle! I do own an inexpensive grinder filled with standard black peppercorns but I use the mortar and pestle to grind all the other pepper varieties in my spice cupboard.

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Sure, I could use an electric spice or coffee grinder but I truly love the physical process of crushing and pounding spices with a mortar and pestle. It’s one of my favorite cooking activities.

The mortar is the lower half of the Mint Full Contact mortar and pestle. Unfortunately, the beautiful porcelain pestle that came with it tumbled off the counter one day and broke. The pestle you see above is something I picked up at a restaurant supply store. It’s not quite as stylish but does the job.

Unlike a pepper mill or spice grinder, this mortar and pestle is really easy to clean between batches of different peppercorns or spices. Plus it looks nice on my open kitchen shelves!

• Buy it: MINT Full Contact Porcelain Spice Grinder, $38.99 at Amazon

Related: Do You Own a Mortar and Pestle?

(Images: Emily Ho; Mint)

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