Vacu Vin's New 2 In 1 Contemporary Pestle And Mortar

This may be a contemporary item, but here I go with my little history lesson again, that the pestle and mortar stem back to biblical times, mentioned in the old testament. They are recorded as early as 1550 BCE in Egyptian medical documents.

We have many devices for slicing, dicing, pulverising and crushing but its very therapeutic to sometimes do the actions yourself.

Chris and I went to Houghton mill at the weekend and I ground grain to make flour by hand using just stones, I felt very satisfied with the ritual and actually would have stayed doing it for longer if eager children were not queuing behind. I remarked this to a woman stood next to me and she said it made her feel like an earth mother as if it was meant to be.

Freshly prepared food does bring a great deal of satisfaction and time for contemplation I do believe.

So  for somebody who cooks a lot I had not in my artillery a pestle and mortar. Shocking especially when I make vast quantities of curries and spicy dishes. I have always bashed the spices under knives of spoons before.

The Vacu Vins one is a really treat for me. I put it to use on a couple of the ingredients for a Chick Pea Curry which you can see below and found it to work very well.

 

I found the pestle and mortar very easy to use, the aroma of my roasted ground coriander and cumin was heavenly and added to the pleasure of this meal. If you want the recipe its coming soon.

I aim to make my own Jalfrezi paste next and then will move on to some others.

The larger main bowl (10cm diameter) is perfect for crushing and grinding large quantities of ingredients, or even several at once. Alternatively turn the device over, and grind smaller amounts of herbs and spices in the smaller 5cm diameter mortar. The white ceramic mortar is robust and will make light work of grinding herbs when combined with the wooden pestle (The mortar can be stored dust free by turning the broad side down and placing the pestle upright in the small mortar base).

 Makes light work of grinding herbs and spices
 2 mortars - 100mm and 54mm
 Comfortable to hold Wooden pestle
 Ceramic mortar
 Dishwasher safe

At only £9.95 it will be a useful tool and make a great gift too.

Stockist enquiries: 01299 250480 www.vacuvin.com