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15 of 15 found the following review helpful:
 A Godsend!Jul 21, 2006
By Talia
After years of using a tiny little suribachi to grind up spices, I upgraded to this. My God, what a difference! I was able to grind up a handful of dried rice into a powder in an hour -- that task would have taken days in the old mortar. It makes fast work of anything, and it holds quite a bit, so I don't have that old problem of having to grind in batches.
There are only a couple of little problems. First, the pestle is a little short for how deep the bowl is, so I find I often hit my knuckles against the edges as I grind. Also, I've not had the mortar long, but I'm already noticing wear, especially on the pestle; and when grinding up small batches of food, I notice a slight metallic taste is left. I suppose any mortar would get worn and wind up in ones food, though.
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Really effective on whole spicesJan 03, 2008
By E A Jewell
If you cook from scratch and store your spices whole (which keeps them fresher and more tasty), then this mortar and pestle are for you. In the past we have tried ceramic and stone, but the surfaces are just too smooth to be effective. The weight of the pestle and the rough surface of the cast iron mortar take care of even cinnamon stick, star anise, and cloves. Just be aware not to go anywhere near it with water or salt, as rust will follow, unless you oil it afterwards. We recommend using an old-fashioned pastry brush to get the spices out after grinding. Excellent value for money and an indispensible item in our kitchen.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 Heavy Duty, but Quirky Sub-Optimal DesignAug 24, 2010
By Darby
Product: Typhoon Cast Iron Mortar and Pestle
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
I first saw this product mentioned in a glowing review in Cooks Illustrated, and since the price was right, I bought one (from the manufacturer, not Amazon). I've owned my share of different M&Ps, and all of them have their quirks, and this one is no different in that regard. I really wanted to give it 5 stars, but I could only give it 3, and I'll explain why.
ADVANTAGES:
* Large Mortar: This has a nice roomy bowl, holding 20+ ounces, which is nice for making things like Guacamole.
* Large Pestle: I like the heft and sturdiness of the pestle, which helps to crush/grind hard spices. It's large enough that you can grasp it with with your whole hand, instead of just a few fingers.
DISADVANTAGES:
* SUB-OPTIMAL SIZE RATIO: The upper sides of the mortar bowl are too steep, and too tall, and the otherwise good pestle size is rendered too short. The result is frequently rapping one's knuckles on the lip, and an inability to use the sides of the work bowl for grinding. The overall impression is that the person who designed it wanted to make a truly stellar product, but wasn't very experienced at actually using M&Ps on a regular basis.
* NO-SLIP BASE TOO NARROW: The cushioned no-slip base was a good design idea, as it protects your work surface, and prevents clunking and chipping when moved. However, the base is a bit too narrow, and because the sides of the bowl are a bit too tall and steep, it tends to be a bit tippy if you grind anywhere near as aggressively as the designers wanted this bowl to be able to handle. A mortar that was least 1/3 wider, 1/3 shorter, and less steep-sided, would have been wonderful.
* SKID MARKS: The material they used for the no-slip base (some sort of black no-slip rubberized compound) is annoyingly staining ... it left black skid marks all over my cutting boards and counter the first few times I used it, and as a result I've had to put a plastic tupperware lid underneath it.
* LACKS TRANSVERSE HANDLE: Because of the overly steep-sides of the mortar bowl, stability becomes an issue if you really want to put some muscle into whatever you're grinding. Because the sides are so steep, everything concentrates in the center bottom of the bowl, if you're grinding anything other than a trivial amount of whatever, you have to use the sides of the bowl ... and because the base is a bit too narrow for that (as compared to a good lava-rock mortar), it tends to tip when using non-trivial force. A transverse handle (like the ones on a soup crock) would have been a helpful solution ... if only they'd thought of it.
* EXCESSIVE COATING: In trying to prevent rust, the designers heavily overdid the coating, and also used the wrong material. The specs advertise a "matte finish", which is an annoying half-truth. It was a matte finish *BEFORE* they put the protective coating on. The actual finish is HIGH GLOSS, and the result is overly slippery, which makes it hard to gain purchase when grinding spices. The result is an annoying tendency to simply move spices around, instead of being able to grind them ... in a good mortar, you're supposed to be able to GRIND against a slightly coarse uncoated surface with fine pores and iregularities, and putting a high-gloss coating on it ruins that. For example, in order to grind peppercorns in this thing, you have to pound the pestle up and down, instead of using a proper grinding motion. The coating is slowly wearing off, but only from the tips of the irregularities, so even the wear pattern is of no use. Rather than the high-gloss coating, they probably should have just electroplated it with something food-grade and rust-resistant, or just left it uncoated. I'd much rather have a little rust (which is easily managed by those with a smidge of experience and/or intelligence) than the over-glossy coating that significantly undermines the ginding effectiveness.
Bottom line: Don't believe all the overly effusive reviews, most of them clearly written by people who don't have a lot of experience with regularly grinding their own spices, multiple times per week ... this unit, due to it's too-tall & too-steep sides, and ill-advised high-gloss coating, is not nearly as ergonomic as I'd hoped. I give the designers an A for ambition, but only a B- for results.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Good quality, a little difficult to clean!Sep 24, 2008
By toemaas
"toemaas"
This is a great product and just what I was looking for after searching for ages for a decent sized pestle and mortar. You can make a good sized batch of guacamole in here and you can serve it straight from the mortar as the bowl is nice enough to put on the table. The one problem with it though is that it is fairly difficult to wash if you are using it for wet stuff, like guacamole. Other than that though, a great item at a good price.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
America's Test Kitchen says yes to this item.Jul 26, 2010
By R. Swango
"toroggo"
In America's Text Kitchen product testing, this is the mortar and pestle that they concluded was the best to have if you only have one. Small ones bust your knuckles and the pebbled surface in this one holds slippery grains for crushing.
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