Do electric mortar and pestle even exist? How do they work and how are they powered? Do they take a different shape from the traditional mortar and pestle? What are the features? Can I get to buy one for kitchen use? Do they produce the same natural results as manual mortar and pestles? we have answered these questions in this article!
Using the normal, traditional mortar and pestle is very common for crushing food and grinding spice. There is something really special about mortar and pestles that makes them irreplaceable no matter how sophisticated your blender can be fashioned into.
We have tested it and seen that it is quite impossible to get the fine powder out of hard food using an electric blender that is controlled by a motor and features spinning blades. Mortar and pestles, generalizing all the forms of material they can be made of, are special and natural kitchen tools that can be used to get a pure natural taste of food ingredients.
But today, we want to look into something a little more exciting. It is not entirely away from the mortar and pestle concept, but we are about to look at the developed side of it. In a phase, you may consider this as the future’s innovative space for the use of mortar and pestles in our kitchen.
Most electrical kitchen appliance we see on the market today that works like magic and does what we want them to do to our food ingredients were designed with an inspiration of manual or hand-cranked mechanism.
Once upon a time, our grannies used their hands to mix wheat, but what do we have today? A multi-purpose food processor that does all the mixing with just the pushing and turning of button controls.
When we look around at all the kitchen appliances in our kitchen, we will see that they once had a manual phase before the advancement of technology metamorphosed them into what we love to use conveniently today for food prep tasks.
Having laid the foundational basis for technological advancement on modern-day kitchen tools, can we then safely get on to our beloved old fashioned mortar and pestle kitchen tool?
Table of Contents
Introduction to Electric mortar and pestle – what is so exciting?
If you have ever used a traditional mortar and pestle, or if you have ever watched someone handled them, you will agree with me that the process is not only time consuming but makes the arm weak after smashing ingredients for a long time.
While it is a very simple action like grinding spice in a bowl, it becomes tedious when it is repetitive, the same force, same motion, same noise…it just seems like you are spending tens of minutes just to get a little bunch of spices ground. And as humans, we will always look for an easier way to get the best from our mortar and pestle.
I’m sure you must have thought about a situation where you can just use your mortar and pestle without having to touch the pestle but use button control to work the process all through. Perhaps, you have never found the image that you imagined on any forum.
Do electric mortar and pestle even exist? How do they work and how are they powered? Do they take a different shape from the traditional mortar and pestle? What are the features? Can I get to buy one for kitchen use? Do they produce the same natural results as manual mortar and pestles?
Well, get ready as this post will answer your questions?
What is an electric mortar and pestle?
We have carried out adequate and extensive research to bring out a perfect sample for what an electric grinder is. We have been equipped with the knowledge to tell you all about an electric mortar and pestle and what you should be expecting from the product that will be hitting the culinary world massively very soon!
This is more like describing the normal mortar and pestle that we all know. We do not want you to think of anything foreign It is still the mortar and pestle you are familiar with, but this time, we are looking into something that does all the smashing work when you hit a button and not lift a pestle.
When describing an electric mortar and pestle, one of the things you would want to know is how the pestle is handled, and how it is programmed to smash ingredients in the mortar bowl until the desired consistency is reached.
Now just as other electric kitchen appliances, an electric mortar and pestle are powered by a motor. And it has housing for the pestle. Perhaps, it is time we let you know that for an electric mortar and pestle to look ‘mortar-and-pestle-like’, the elements of the tool but take a smaller form. Except in cases where manufactures decide to deploy industrial development to these machines.
When imagining an electric mortar and pestle, The substance to be ground, which may be wet or dry, is placed in the mortar (just like the way it is done when using manual mortar and pestle) but this time, there is a kind of funnel or feed, fixed at the top of the housing such that users can toss in an ingredient.
With the power of the motor, the pestle which is fixed into the housing upon the mortar diameter is programmed to press and rotate onto the ingredients at a super speed set level until the desired texture is achieved. Control buttons and buttons to set the speed of the pestle is fixed on the body of the mortar.
Let us take you back to the very point of a mortar and pestle. Understand that this kitchen tool is done by hand to control for the type of mixing and grinding. But with the advancement of technology that is taking effect on our kitchen appliances of today, we can easily imagine how an electric mortar and pestle will look like and how it works to get results quickly, easily, and effortlessly.
The image below is a very rare photo of what an electric mortar and pestle for kitchen use look like. We have included it because it explains pretty much the description of an electric mortar and pestle.
How does the electric mortar and pestle work?
In line with putting the pieces together, it may be unfathomable to use a mortar and pestle that works electronically. The image above is showing us the component of an electric mortar and pestle, how they will look like and the features to expect. You shouldn’t sleep on this once it hits the market in a massive way.
What does it feel like to have a mortar and pestle in your kitchen that works electronically? We can answer this by examining how an electric mortar pestle works or will be designed to work in smashing food ingredients.
Now refer back to the earlier part of this post where we mentioned that for every electric kitchen appliance we see on the market today, they were invented through and inspiration by manual kitchen tools. The demand to make the use of these manual kitchen tools as easy as possible to get a quick result is what gave birth to appliances like blenders, juicers, and so on.
Fast forward to the situation where mortar and pestle users are in demand of an electronically controlled model. We want to advance from the era of the following to the era of having a machine that does the following itself, not exempting the cleaning process after use.
To get the real mechanism on how electric mortar and pestle work, we will get the inspiration from the way manual mortar and pestle are used. So how are manual mortar and pestle used?
When using manual mortar and pestle, the spices are of course processed in batches. Raw ingredients are moderately measured and place in the mortar, the mortar is held in a place with one hand, and the pestle on the opposite fist. Then the pestle is twisted against the ingredients inside the mortar and used to process the spice to the user desired consistency.
Inspired by the stress users go through with the above process of using a manual mortar and pestle, the mechanism of an electric mortar and pestle is such a way that will eliminate the stress of even lifting a pestle made of granite stone to smash ingredient.
The electric mortar and pestle are designed to reproducibly grind, homogenize and mix a wide range of solid ingredients in dry/wet conditions. Unlike when using manual mortar and pestle, what happens here is that the food ingredients fall into the pulverizing area between Mortar and Pestle by top feeding via the opening which is positioned at the inlet cover.
Since the process is done electronically, there are some adjustment features that will enable the machine to match the necessary top pressure with the requested end fineness and the breaking behavior of the food ingredients to be processed.
This brings about the inclusion of at least 3 key adjustments at the body of the mortar that features a wide range of ingredients preparation tasks that can be reached.
There are claims by manufacturers that any electric mortar and pestle innovation are ideal for laboratory use. And yes, manual mortar and pestle are used in the laboratory and you may want to see reasons why in this post HERE.
Electic mortar and pestle are therefore ideal for fine grinding, homogenizing, triturating of samples in the laboratory.
Features of an electric mortar and pestle
Let’s take a quick look at some of the features of electric mortar and pestles.
More Grinding Capacity
It is very innovative because, with an electric mortar and pestle, you can smash large batches of food ingredients without wasting time. They are designed to work fast and they will be able to make powder from your spices just as the way a manual one will give you excellent results. But this time, you get it in a jiffy without having to apply effort.
Complex Design
No matter how old fashion you can imagine a mortar and pestle to be, an electric one will surely include many parts to ensure the proper functioning of the machine. They include a powerful motor that will control the small heavy pestle to be self smashing
Weight
An electric mortar and pestle are quite heavier than normal wooden manual mortar and pestles. Although, they appear compact and not giant size, the powerful motors in them as well as a heavy base where the mortar will rest make them heavy.
Multi-purpose
There are some manual mortar and pestles that are not ideal for smashing or grinding some kind of spice, this may be due to the material used in making them or so. But since the little pestles in electric mortar and pestles are indirectly connected to the motor power that controls them, they can be replaced with other pestles of the same size but with different materials to get the best result.
It is pretty much like changing the attachment of your food processor for mixing when and changing it to another blade attachment for shredding veggies.
Difference between the electric mortar and pestle and the manual one?
There is a vast difference between a manual mortar and pestle and an electric mortar and pestle that will make the majority fall for the latter. For us to be able to effectively look into the difference between the electric mortar and pestle and the manual one, we need to identify the pros and cons of each mortar and pestle time and see which have an edge.
So as usual, we will start with the mortar and pestle type that we are all familiar with, the manual mortar and pestle.
The first feature we want to look at which is also an advantage is that it is easy to clean, there are no electrical parts of a manual mortar and pestle, hence they are easier to clean than electric ones. There is not assembling or disassembling involved in the cleaning or seasoning process. All you need is warm water and brush in some cases.
Another thing is affordability. Manual mortar and pestles are affordable to buy. But when technology and advancement of mechanisms are involved to make the smashing process faster and effortless, you should expect the price to skyrocket.
By using electric mortar and pestle, you should be ready to attend to the extra bills to pay like electricity, and also be ready to be bothered about some mechanical parts getting spoilt and replaced. But none of these is related to the use of manual meat grinders.
Still, on the differences that exist between a manual mortar and pestle and an electric on, we should also not fail to consider the level of power that is equipped in electronic mortar and pestle.
Manual mortar and pestles are operated by the user’s power and this can get tiring if you are grinding large amounts of spice and herbs in every session. It would also take a long time to reached the desired consistency when using manual ones.
Another factor that strikes the difference between a manual mortar and pestle and an electric one is safety concerns. Some recipes require you to smash ingredients without exposing them too much. In this kind of case, you will opt for an electric mortar and pestle because it will prevent the ingredients from being exposed to the elements for longer periods thereby prevent bacteria contamination.
Downsides to expect from electric mortar and pestle
For every advanced look of kitchen tools, there are always significant downsides that one should not fail to point out.
As for electric mortar and pestle, here are the few downsides we should expect that we will not experience in the manual ones.
High cost
It is the latest tech improvement for mortar and pestle, the greatest side on the gradient of the old fashioned kitchen tool.
They are expensive because of the high-quality equipment used in them as well as the materials used for making the outer shell for the electric mortar and pestle.
Working with electricity only
Electric kitchen tools need electricity to work. This is a very huge pitfall because where there is no electricity, you can’t use them.
The same applies to an electric mortar and pestle. Users will always be dependent on the power supply when they want to grind spice or any herbs.
They also feature a power plug that has a particular length. If it is a short one, then you will not have all that free movement as when you are using a manual mortar and pestle.
Spoiling and Replacement parts
When we use our traditional mortar and pestle, we are not concerned about replacing any part because there are no electrical components that will one day spoil.
There is always an additional cost attached to electric mortar and pestle because in some cases, a piece of equipment breaks down, and you need to get it replaced.
Can you buy an electric mortar and pestle online?
So with all these revelations on electric mortar and pestle, the guess is that you are as intrigued as we are to have this at your disposal.
This will birth the question of where to buy an electric mortar and pestle online.
There are other local stores in the United States and India where you can lay your hand on this piece of equipment, however, the electric mortar and pestle is not available on Amazon yet. We will surely keep you up to date as soon as it hits the Amazon stores. Won’t it be amazing if you can get your hands on the Electric Mortar and Pestle? It is going to be electric, surely!
For an appliance that gives the exact result of a mortar and pestle, but works electronically, people will quickly point at Vitamix because it can turn grains into a powder, with the grain pitcher.