A home cook weighing the trade-offs between a mortar and pestle and a manual burr grinder for grinding whole dry spices questions whether the latter could be a faster alternative without compromising flavor. While traditional wisdom favors mortar and pestle for crushing plant cell walls and releasing more aromatic compounds, the user notes that blade grinders—unlike burr grinders—are the real culprits for heat buildup and flavor loss. Given that burr grinders crush rather than slice and produce minimal heat, the question arises: could this method save time while still delivering the same depth of flavor for spice blends like garam masala? The discussion hinges on whether the efficiency of a manual burr grinder can match the precision of a mortar and pestle for dry spices.
Alright, so... This is a question strictly, solely, only related to grinding whole DRY spices into powder. I already know thet a mortar and pestle is way better than a burr grinder for all wets, and pastes (pesto (pestle-o more like), ginger garlic paste, salsa, etc.) if nothing else simply because I don't even want to imagine the nightmare of cleaning fibrous ginger strands out of a burr grinder. But also for myriad other reasons... They just work great for making a paste. You literally just mash the paste into a paste. BUT. Everyone also always says that M&P are better, for DRY spices, hands-down, because they A) Crush the cell walls of the plant material, dry OR wet, bursting them and releasing more volatile compounds (and therefore more flavor). ...And B) Because the grinding action of a grinder generates too much heat, burning your spices. BUT!! Is this not only a problem with BLADE grinders? Don't burr grinders A) Crush, not slice and B) Not generate nearly as much heat as a blade grinder? Especially if I chose a manual burr grinder? I'm looking to save time, here, specifically and only with whole dry spices, using this guy because he is cheap and compact (like me haha). Do y'all think I will actually save time? I have a nice, heavy granite M&P that I like, but it can take me several minutes to get things powdery when I am making garam masala, and even then I still have chunks of dried bay leaf and husks of black and green cardamom pods in there that I need to extract using a sieve. Do y'all think I could save time while not sacrificing any of the flavor because a manual burr grinder crushes (doesn't cut), and generates only a negligible amount of heat? submitted by /u/Witch_of_the_boys [link] [comments]
