Conference turris::cooks

    I just bought a coffee grinder to grind spices.  I don't drink coffee,
    so it felt a little strange to walk up to the counter with a coffee
    grinder, but the price was right (under $9).  I use ground nuts
    and spices when I cook, and the food processor doesn't quite do
    the trick, especially for small quantities.  A coffee grinder would
    probably work for you, too, but you'd probably have to pay more
    than I did to get one that's as variable as you want it to be.
    
    Susie

    Alternatively, use a mortar and pestle, if you're just doing
    small quantities at a time. It'll take a little longer than
    a coffee grinder, but for small quantities that shouldn't make
    much difference. Also it's pretty easy to adjust coarseness of
    grind - just stop when it's fine enough!
    
    ...Robert

Braun makes a great little electric coffee grinder that sells for $12-$22 
(Spags-Jordan Marsh).  It has a blunt blender style blade that is excellent 
for grinding spices.  It can grind coarse and fine by adjusting the number and 
duration of the on-off's.  

						     
							- JP

    Buy the spice grinder made by Moulinex called "Dry/Wet Spice Grinder",
    not to be confused with "Coffee Grinder".  It is available from
    Brookstone at $30.00.  Be forewarned that it is imported and it has a
    propensity to go through blade at an amazing rate.  But if you buy from
    Brookstone, you don't have to worry about it.  Brookstone will give you
    a new one. And even if the portion of the blade shears off, you can
    continue to use it, albeit it takes little longer to chop/grind. I used
    it that way for almost an year before the blade broke off completely.
    
    This Spice Grinder is dish-washer safe.  It is extremely easy to clean.
    Most of the coffee grinders that are available can not be cleaned this
    way since the grinding bowl is fixed on the base and thus can not be
    removed for cleaning.

    You can grind almost all kinds of spices with it. I find it indispensable
    for Indian cooking.  I have been using it for last four or so years
    and would highly recommend it to anyone.

    Lately, there have lots of other spice grinders available on the
    market made by Black & Decker, Cuisineart, Osterizer, Braun, Westbend
    etc. However, the Moulinex still is the best for its ease of use. 
    
- Vikas

    From the Williams-Sonoma January 1988 catalog (Oh heavens, I'm branded
    now ;^) page 51:
    
    "The MultiMill (tm) Herb/Spice Grinder Set lets you grind whole spices
    or dried herbs whenever you need them, simply by inverting the desired
    spice or herb bottle on top of the specifically designed grinding
    mill.  The set includes five refillable 3" high glass bottles
    containing dried leaf thyme, basil, oregano, sea salt and black
    peppercorns.  The 4 and 1/2" high ivory plastic spice mill base
    has a special ceramic grinding mechanism.  #88-305573  Regularly
    $20.00  Special Price $16.50"
    
    
    A rather uninformative picture accompanied this text.  
    
    bd
    

    Note 892.4 recommended the imported product 'made by Moulinex called
    the "Dry/Wet Spice Grinder", not to be confused with "Coffee Grinder"'.
    But without that precise reference in hand, I bought the wrong product,
    a different unit by a different manufacturer designed for a different
    application.  The box said, "MOULI the electric mincer ... made in
    France ... model 534 ... chops, minces or purees herbs and spices ...
    vegetables and condiments -- cooked meats ... great for baby food ...
    does the job in just a few seconds ... ."   It probably would do a
    super job on baby food, but I don't yet have any grandchildren.  It
    didn't do cinnamon sticks --- well, it did grind cinnamon, but it put
    the powder on the counter and retained the yet unground chunks. 
    
    A device for mincing spins sharp blades like a food processor; most
    grinders simply crush material in a gap between sturdy plates.  But 
    I had seen "coffee grinders" that used the spinning blade method,
    and I thought at the time I was buying the recommended spice grinder.
    
    I did appreciate its performance in mincing jalapenos --- the best tool
    in the house for doing that and for making small quantities of herb
    butters.  However, the MOULI mincer had design flaws even in its own
    application space; it was difficult to clean, and it rusted in the
    dishwasher.  I returned it to the store.
    
    After I returned this unit, I bought a Black & Decker Handy Chopper.
    The B&D, at two thirds the price of the MOULI, is essentially a tiny
    food processor with a one cup bowl; it can hold liquids and puree. It
    isn't quite as fast as the MOULI in mincing jalapenos, but it cleans
    easily, thoroughly, and without corrosion.  The packaging is excellent.
    
    I still don't have a dry spice grinder.

    I have a feeling that you did buy the right product but your needs must
    be different.  We have been using over five of those mincers in the
    immediate family for last four or more years.  I had to replace the
    blades on two of them.  Apart from that I have no complaints about
    their performance.  As a matter of fact, I have yet to see anything
    rivaling its convenience and cleanability.  When I am done mincing
    garlic, ginger and corriander paste I throw the green bowl and white
    cover in the dishawasher for cleaning. 
    
    I have been looking for something better than Moulinex for many many
    years.  I have examined all of the small mincers including Westbend,
    Braun, Cuisineart etc and have yet to find anything easier to use and
    clean.  Next time I am in a store, I will take a closer look at Handy
    Chopper. 
    
    I am also looking for small grinder with true grinding mechanism which
    can crush material in a gap between sturdy plates.  Some of the coffee
    grinders might work but I have never seen one which is a dishwaher
    safe.  Something which can replace a mortar and pestle (which I have
    yet to find anywhere in USA!).
    
- Vikas 

>        Something which can replace a mortar and pestle (which I have
>    yet to find anywhere in USA!).
    
You've yet to find a mortar and pestle, or you've yet to find a 
replacement?  The former is easy to find in my neck of the woods, and I 
don't think you'll ever find the latter.
					>>>==>PStJTT

    Have you found a REAL morter and pestle?  Made of stone?  The
    glass ones mess my teeth up, and the wood ones are too soft.
    I've yet to find one of the ones I've heard are the best - made
    of some sort of rough volcanic rock.  Not marble.
    
    --L

>    Have you found a REAL morter and pestle?  Made of stone?  The
>    glass ones mess my teeth up...

Maybe I've been using it wrong...I've never bitten mine.  But it's made 
of some kind of white-ish substance like an unglazed ceramic or 
sandstone.  It holds up very well and provides the friction you need to
crush and grind.  I got it a couple of years ago at "The Joy of Cooking"
in one of the Malls in Natick Ma.  Perhaps there are better ones -- I'm 
not into "perfect," I'm into "serviceable."
						>>>==>PStJTT

    I'm talking about the noise they make when you skrape the
    morter and pestle together - we have one of those clear
    glass "chem-lab" style ones and I can't use it at all.  My
    teeth hurt when the pieces skreetch together.  
    
    maybe I'll try the unglazed white type.
    
    --L

I use a marble one (from Joy of Cooking) for some spices and a brass one from 
an antique store for others, the wood one I use exclusively for making garlic 
paste.  If you are looking for the white ceramic ones, try Joyce Chen (Acton, 
Ma, or Amherst, NH).

						     
							- JP

    In the past month or so, having decided to find something better than
    the (in?)famous Moulinex 534, we tried each and every available spice
    grinder/blender on the market.  We normally use the grinder to prepare
    mixture (paste?) of coriander, green chilies, garlic, ginger and
    sometimes fried onions, fried coconut flakes and sometimes dry spices
    such as whole pepper, cardamom(?) seeds, whole clove etc.  This means
    that the grinder has to be washable.  Hence regular coffee grinders are
    not suitable.

    At first we bought Cuisineart Mini/mate chopper.  I really wish they
    had done some real tests with actual customers.  Having the motor sit
    on the top of the bowl is incredibly stupid idea.  When one tries to
    add components to the bowl, the blade shaft receptacle gets filled in. 
    You have to fist fish out the particles from that receptacle before the
    motor base will fit on the top.  Once you start the machine, all the
    stuff goes up and sticks to the base of the motor, which you have to
    carefully scrape it out.  If only Cuisineart could change the design! 
    They really had the best blade and the most power in its class. 
    Unfortunately, the absolute stupidity of the design dawns on you the
    first time you use the machine to blend some ingredients.

    The next we tried West Bend mini chopper, Oscar Jr and Black and Decker
    Handy Chopper.  Of all three, only B&D at least did what we wanted to
    do.  The other two were almost useless in making a paste.  Blade used
    to just spin and the ingredients used to get stuck to the bowl.  We
    were never able to make the paste as we wanted.  The B&D took a long
    time but at least it achieved the results. However, it was still not
    any better than the 2 year old Moulinex that we have.

    Brookstone no longer carries it.  We will probably buy another Moulinex
    from one of the ethnic stores in NYC for around $15.00.

    - Vikas

We (my wife and I) use either an Oskar or Oskar Junior, but in reality neither
work as well as a "stone age food processor" (stone mortar and pestle).

The rule is "for dry ingredients use a smooth finish stone mortar & pestle.

For wet ingredients use a crockery one.

(both can be found in oriental markets: stone are typically granite. You can 
also get wood (ironwood?) ones that are very good). My Mother-in-law has one 
that is too large for me to move, let alone pickup (its about a metre across 
and made of granite: fortunately smaller ones work quite well for normal 
domestic quantities). 

/. Ian .\

    My wife has been using a mortar and pestle for many years, but now I'm
    the one that gets to do the grinding because tendonitis has ruled out
    her using a mortar and pestle.

    Since I'm not always handy, a spice grinder seems in order.  Today she
    bought a Betty Crocker Mini-Chopper because it had a smaller bowl than
    any of the other mini-blenders.  It completely failed the dried
    rosemary chopping test -- it just blew the rosemary around without
    damaging it at all.  Next we considered trying my Krups coffee grinder,
    but rosemary-flavored coffee wouldn't be drinkable.

    Just now I went searching thru 5.* and found this topic.  The
    discussion started out fine, but was disappointing at the end when it
    headed off on a mortar and pestle tangent.  So, getting back to the
    subject of grinders, ...

    Have there been any advances in the technology during the past 4 years
    (since .15 was posted)?

    -- Ward

re: .16

>    Next we considered trying my Krups coffee grinder,
>    but rosemary-flavored coffee wouldn't be drinkable.

We have two Krups coffee grinders, one for coffee and one for spices.
I've never tried grinding rosemary, though.  I'd suggest trying rosemary
in your grinder to see how it works.  Afterwords, grind some rice in
the grinder and wipe it out with a damp cloth.  Coffee's pretty strong
flavored, so you shouldn't notice much if any residual rosemary taste.
If the grinder does a sufficient job, go out and buy a second one to
be reserved for spices (I know, rosemary's really an herb :-).

-Hal

    I received a Mouli Chopper for Xmas this year, its very small and 
    does a super job on herbs.  It was purchased at the Pheasant Lane Mall
    in the little Kitchen store near Lechemere, ~ $30.
    

    One thing I've noticed about using a coffee grinder for grinding
    spices -- if you like the fact that the clear plastic cover of your
    grinder is still clear, then don't grind spices.  
    
    Spices (especially rosemary) tend to scratch the inner surface of the
    plastic cover, rendering it opaque.  I suspect it's because spices are
    harder and drier than coffee bean, and they often have sharp surfaces
    that can scratch the plastic.  I have two: a nice looking one for
    coffee, and a ratty looking one for spices.

    
    	To do whole dried rosemary, I just walk a sharp, large bladed knife
    	back and forth over a cutting board, like you'd do if fine chopping
    	garlic or shallots.  This does a great job, and if you have
    	tendonitis this shouldn't bother you.
    
    	-VT

	I put rosemary in a plastic bag and run the rolling pin over it
	several times.

	ScottR