LibertywareStone Granite Mortar and Pestle 4 Cup Capacity, 8 Inch, Gray

This is the LARGEST and the highest quality Mortar set that I have ever used! For me, I prefer to use this set when I am crushing lots of herbs, spices and then mixing the wet ingredients into this bowl after I have crushed my herbs. The benefit of this is that the pestle is so heavy and has a wide bottom, it does a very quick job of crushing the herbs first.Then when I add each of my liquid ingredients, I use the pestle for my stirrer. So in a sense, this set I use for a mixing bowl.I have used this set to make sauces and then placed this bowl with the sauce I prepared into my microwave (with inverted saucer on top) and the sauce thickened and it was wonderful. By the way, instead of flour to thicken my sauce, I use cornstarch and mix it first into my herbs BEFORE I add my water and other wet ingredients.After I microwave this, I let it sit for about one minute on my counter and the sauce thickens on it's own.***Helpful hint - This set (both the bowl and the pestle) are very, very ROUGH at first. What I did to fix this is to wash out the bowl and the pestle well and let them dry. Then I seasoned both of these with Canola Oil. I rubbed a generous amount of this oil in the OUTSIDE and INSIDE of the bowl with my fingertips. Then I wiped this clean with a clean cloth. Then the next day, I repeated this all over again and the result is that the set is SMOOTHER, LOOKS BETTER and so so easy to clean.Highly recommend this set.

This mortar and pestle is perfect. It’s got a nice large capacity (frankly, if I could fit a larger one into my kitchen I would, since making sauces in this thing is so incredible) and is solid, solid, SOLID. The interior of the mortar bowl is JUST perfectly textured enough to grind things fine, but not so coarse as to flake or break off. Never a worry about rock dust (or worse) in your food.Yes, it weighs a LOT. But you need that weight in order to pummel spices into submission and create delicious, creamy sauces.I have now made aioli a number of times, and it’s incredibly easy – just thrown in a handful of peeled cloves of garlic (I slice each one about three times across the grain first – smashing cross-grain is the only thing that takes a little longer in this monster), add a pinch of coarse salt, and begin mashing. When the garlic and salt is a coarse paste, start drizzling in extra virgin olive oil. Use an up-and-down “pouncing” motion with the pestle, pushing down at the far side of the bowl and pulling toward you as you raise the pestle. It takes a minute but you’ll soon get the hang – you need to hold the pestle loosely so it sort of jounces up and down. Keep up that motion as you drizzle in the oil, and it soon begins to emulsify – even without an egg yolk!I also use this for nut sauces that I use on pasta – cashew sauce, and peanut sauce with fresh ginger are my particular favorites.It makes extremely short work of herb sauces, too. And of course, will pulverize peppercorns, juniper berries, cardamom pods – you name it – in short order.It also looks GREAT on my counter top! I could not be more pleased with this mortar and pestle. It is amazing!

Altogether it was a magnificent work of art. It had a wonderful quality, clean finish, and no noticeable defects except for a couple very small minor chips on the edge of the base. But at nearly 20 lbs, it was ultimately unmanageable by me. It's good for a strong, hefty type. In my small hands I found it hard to lift safely even from the counter right to the sink. I felt I would drop it and crack the edge of my countertop. Plus I didn't want to risk personal injury. I did consider leaving it near my bedside as a weapon. But that thought was too morbid. The unit I received had the following specs:Outer diameter 7.75"Inner diameter 5.75"Inner height 4"Outer height 5.75"Pestle length 9"Mortar weight 16.8 lbsPestle weight 3 lbs.Total weight - a whopping 19.8 lbs!

Very heavy, good quality and large! The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because it was packaged horribly! There was literally the mortar/pestle box thrown inside a large box (absolutely no padding just a box inside of a box) when I received it the exterior box was completely torn open. Thankfully the mortar and pestle wasn't busted to pieces but it's a shame that anyone would package something so poorly, they likely end up replacing a lot of these simply because they won't take the time to add padding.

Sometimes I regret my online purchases. I see something and think it’ll change my life and it ends up collecting dust. This mortar and pestle set will never get dusty in my house! It is exactly the heavy duty piece my kitchen was missing. I’d buy it again, and buy one for everyone I know if I could!The granite is heavy and textured, and the pestle is large and so easy to handle that you can perfectly pulverize peppercorns in seconds. Some other reviewers said it was misleadingly small. My first recipe in this new gadget was a 3-avacado batch of guacamole and there was plenty of room to smash. The other day my husband made a rosemary pesto that was smoother and creamier than anything rosemary-related I could imagine – no pine needle texture. I can’t wait to make spice rubs and Thai curry pastes. It’s even great for average kitchen tasks like crushing garlic and cracking nuts.I’ve used it almost daily for several weeks, with only a rinse or abrasion by dry rice to clean. It has a very very light patina and *maybe* a lingering spice smell immediately after use. I’ve heard this is normal, and have no objection. It seems clean to me, and we haven’t been food-poisoned yet (fingers crossed!) Not everything in this world needs to be sanitized plastic and stainless steel, and you’ll be amazed by the world of flavors and enjoyment of hands-on work you’ll enjoy with this mortar and pestle. Five stars!