My absolute favorite kitchen tool is the mortar and pestle. I didn’t know how badly I needed one until I bought one, but now I’d never be without one. Even when a recipe doesn’t call for it, I often give my dried spices a quick run-through as it helps bring out the flavor and aroma. Sure it’s extra work, but it’s well worth it. Especially effective when mixing a wet ingredient with a dry ingredient, like honey with curry. I only have one right now, as this poor college student has a small kitchen budget, but I will be buying some different sized models as I can. A big one for better mixing batches of spice mixtures, and a small one for when I only need a little bit ground up. If you’re not sure what you’ll use it for, choose one that’s not tiny, but not too large either. Mine is about 5 inches in diameter. This is a good source for information about different types.
Go ahead, buy one. Mash some garlic, take a whiff……ahhhhhhh that’s nice.
