Do you need to season Cole and mason granite mortar and pestle? If Yes, then how do you get about this to make sure your granite mortar and pestle are good to use?
I am pretty sure that you just bought a new mortar and pestle, specifically the Cole and Mason granite mortar and pestle. One of the things that you may notice when you get a new mortar and pestle is the grit, and it is usually a problem with new mortar and pestle.
Grit is a collection of hard small materials such as a collection of debris or stone. When you buy a new mortar and pestle you will experience this, but you do not need to worry because there is a solution to it which we will provide in this article.
When you buy a new Cole and Mason granite mortar and pestle, you will notice that the interior surface will be rough and unpolished, the items you are grinding could grab some of those stones and it will not be healthy at all.
Seasoning your Cole and Mason granite mortar and pestle mortar and pestle is the first thing you need to do when you buy. It is very important because it will help you to remove all the small debris that may have been stuck in it when you first bought it.
If you do not season your Cole and Mason Granite Mortar and pestle you may likely expose your ingredients to be ground or crushed to that dirt and it could end up being dangerous and unhealthy to you or any other person that could be using it.
Table of Contents
What are the steps to season a Cole and Mason granite mortar and pestle?
Seasoning helps to solve the problem of grit in your new mortar and pestle, grit is usually a collection of hard small materials, like a collection of small stones. We will explain the steps in which you can season your new mortar and pestle.
Be sure that you follow the steps religiously, it will help you to get the best results, if you miss a step you are likely to get something wrong and you will end up getting bad results after seasoning.
Step 1: Prepare your mortar and pestle for seasoning
This is the very first thing that you need to do when you want to season your mortar and pestle, you need to get it ready. You may have just bought your mortar and pestle waiting to start using it.
All you need to season your cole and mason mortar and pestle is just enough grains of rice, you need about three tablespoons of raw white rice. First, you need to get your grains of rice prepared, you should get enough quantity that will be able to serve you well.
After you have prepared the rice then you should go-ahead to get the mortar and pestle ready to be seasoned, there is no need to wash it first, when you are done seasoning then you can go ahead to wash it. When the grains of rice, the mortar and pestle are ready, you can now put the grains of rice in the mortar and get ready to start seasoning.
Step 2: Start seasoning properly with rice
At this point, you would have prepared your three tablespoons grains of rice and gotten your mortar and pestle ready to be seasoned. You already have the grains of rice inside the mortar, then you can start the seasoning properly.
How you season is by grinding the grains of rice continuously until it has been reduced to a fine powder form. To know how long you need to grind to attain this result, you need to grind it for about eight minutes.
If you do not get results after grinding for eight minutes then you should keep grinding till you get the results you want. The aim is to grind the raw rice until it attains a fine powder texture.
You should repeat this process about twice until the powder gets so white and the mortar has a very smooth consistency. When you are done make sure you dispose of the rice properly.
Step 3: Confirm if it has been seasoned
After you are done grinding the white grains of rice in the mortar to fine powdered texture, the next thing you need to do is that you need to confirm if the mortar has been properly seasoned.
There is a way to check it, we will explain that. We said earlier that when you are grinding the white grains of rice in the mortar, you should continue grinding for about 8 minutes to get the powdered texture. After doing that you need to check if the mortar and pestle have been seasoned properly.
How you do that is by checking the inner surface of the mortar and also the grinding end of the pestle, you need to check to confirm that it has a smooth consistency. Once you have checked and noticed that the surface of the mortar is grit-free, then you know that it has been properly seasoned.
Ste 4: Clean the Granite mortar and pestle after seasoning
When you are done seasoning and confirming that the seasoning has been properly done, the next thing you are to do is to clean it with warm water, liquid soap, and sponge.
The liquid soap will help it remain sparkling clean, also free from all forms of dirt. Note that if your liquid soap has a strong fragrance, the fragrance may likely affect the next thing you will be grinding in the mortar and pestle.
If you are using liquid soap to wash your granite mortar and pestle, you should make use of just a little soap so that it does not end up leaving fragrance residue even after cleaning and washing it.
When you are done cleaning and washing you should allow it air dry. Allowing it to air dry means you are going to let it dry naturally and not make use of any towel to dry it. When you leave it to air dry you should leave it in a place where it will not be prone to breaking or falling from a height and shattering.
Final Step: Store the granite mortar and pestle
This is the last thing you should do when you are. This should be done after seasoning, cleaning, and drying the granite mortar and pestle. You should store it in a very good place where it will not get damaged or where it will not fall from a height.
You should store your granite mortar and pestle in a place that when you want to make use of it you will easily reach out to it and make use of it without stressing so much. That is why storing your mortar and pestle in a good place is very important.
At this point you should already know how to season a Cole and mason mortar and pestle, these steps are very simple and it does not need to get someone to do it for you, you can do it all by yourself.
We said earlier that you should not miss any of these steps so that you will be able to get the best result after seasoning. If you follow the steps religiously, you will end up getting the best results.
Grit is usually a problem with new mortar and pestle, but seasoning will solve the problem. It is very important that the seasoning process need to be done multiple times, up to three times, the grinding also needs to be done for about 8 minutes, if you have not gotten your preferred result then you should do more then 8 minutes.
The goal is to have a grit-free mortar. When you are done grinding the white raw rice, to check if the mortar has been properly seasoned, you should confirm by checking the inside of the mortar to make sure that it has a smooth consistency. That is how you can confirm the seasoning of the mortar and pestle.
There is something about the granite material and mortar and pestles that are made of granite, the thing there is that it comes with a porous surface, what this means is that it has some tiny holes on the body, that is the surface. Because of the pores on the surface of this granite mortar and pestle, it can release some particles of stone and grit into your food when you are grinding for the first time.
This is why you really need to season your new granite mortar and pestle, except you want to endanger your food or whoever will be making use of the ingredients to be ground.
Seasoning helps to prepare the surface of your mortar, not just the surface of the mortar, also the grinding surface of the pestle. You should not think that these steps are tedious, they may be, but what is more important is your safety.
If you feel the steps are too tedious and you do not go through them you may likely be endangering yourself because you may end up grinding your ingredients in the mortar and mix it with stones, and this is not healthy for you at all.
If by chance this happens and you have stones in your food, if eaten, it could be a health hazard that may end up being so bad. Apart from the health hazard of not seasoning your new granite mortar and pestle, it can also save you some unnecessary expenses in the sense that if you properly season your mortar and pestle.
You will not have to see any sand or stone in your food and what you grind will be safe to eat. With that, you will not have to spend unnecessarily on health due to eating stone or sand.
You should not overlook this seasoning, it may seem like it is not so important, but the health challenges that do come with having sand or stones in your food are not really cheap to cure or treat, so you need to take this seasoning of your new granite mortar and pestle.
If you feel you may not have the time to do it, perhaps, you work, then you can get someone to help you out with the task.
Do not use your busy schedule as an excuse not to season your granite mortar and pestle, this is because you can always get someone to get it done for you, just as we have advised.
Final Words on how to season a cole and mason mortar and pestle
We have already emphasized a lot about how important it is to season your granite mortar and pestle before using it. It saves you a whole lot, it saves you time and stress in the sense that you do not have to waste more time removing stones from the ingredients that you crushed.
It also saves prevents you from health hazards in the sense that if you eat food or make use of ingredients with sand and stones inside, it could cause some health hazards, however, if you take your time to season the mortar and pestle, then you will be saving yourself some health hazards.
You will also save yourself from unnecessary expenses, when you season your granite mortar and pestle you will not have sand or stones in your ingredients or food, therefore, you do not need to visit any hospital for treatment, that is how it saves you from unnecessary expenses.
One excuse you should not make, just like we have said it earlier, is that you should not say you did not season your granite mortar and pestle because you did not have the time to do it.
You can always get someone to do the job for you. If you are getting a new Cole and mason granite mortar and pestle, these steps that we have shared with you will guide you on how you can successfully season your new granite mortar and pestle.
If you follow all the steps, we talked about you are going to get the best results. If not, you will get a wholly different result.
Got any questions?