Mortar & pestle..why talk about it?

WEEK 5 is all about batu lesung:/

Whats a mortar and pestle?

A mortar and pestle is a tool used to crush, grind, and mix solid substances (trituration).

The pestle is a heavy bat-shaped object, the end of which is used for crushing and grinding. The mortar is a bowl, typically made of hard wood, marble, clay, or stone. The substance to be ground is placed in the mortar and ground, crushed or mixed with the pestle.

MORTAR AND PESTLE

Mortars and pestles come in many sizes. The Caddo and Cherokee used big ones they called corn mills. The mortar was made from a tree trunk. Here is a picture of one.

The pestle here is the big thing that looks like a paddle. The Cherokee lady here lifts the pestle up and then pounds it down on the corn or acorns in the tree stump mortar.

They are also use for medical purpose..

In the olden days, mortars and pestles were used traditionally in pharmacies to crush ingredients to prepare the prescription. On those days, the head of pestle are usually made of porcelain and the handle of pestle is made of wood and they are called Wedgwood mortar and pestle which founded mostly in 1779. In this era, the mixing ingredients or reducing the particle size is known as trituration. Mortar and pestle are still used until now to grind up pills to speed up absorption when patient are ingested.

Also for food preparation...

Mortars are also used in cooking to prepare ingredients such as guacamole and pesto (which derives its name from the pestle pounding), as well as grinding spices into powder. The molcajete, a version used by pre-Hispanic mesoamerican cultures including the Aztec and Maya, stretching back several thousand years, is made of basalt and is used widely in Mexican cooking. It likely evolved from the more primitive metate grinding slab. Other Native American tribes used mortars carved into the bedrock to grind acorn and other nuts. Many such depressions can be found in their former territories.

In Japan, very large mortars are used with wooden mallets to prepare mochi. A regular sized Japanese mortar and pestle are called a suribachi and surikogi, respectively. Granite mortars and pestles are used in SouthEast Asia, as well as Pakistan and India. In India, it's used extensively to make spice mixtures for various delicacies as well as day to day dishes. With the advent of motorized grinders, use of the mortar and pestle has decreaed. It is traditional in various Hindu ceremonies (such as weddings, and upanayanam) to crush tumeric in these mortars. In Malay, it is known as lesung. Large stone mortars, with long (2–3 feet) wood pestles were used in the Middle East to grind meat for a type of meatloaf, or kibbeh, as well as the hummus variety known as masabcha.

How to use a mortar and pestle:D ???

1: Pick the Right Mortar and Pestle

Mortar and pestles are usually made in a matching set. Common materials are wood, stone, or sometimes hard clay. Although usually any will do, you will want to consider if you want your tools dishwasher-safe, if it will be easy to clean, the weight, and if breakage may be a problem, such as if dropped.

2: Use for the Right Reason

If you need something ground into a paste or powder, this is a great tool. If you need something chopped, pureed, or blended, you may be better off with another tool.

3: Get Into the Grind

Put your item to be ground into the bowl-like mortar. Take the pestle by the handle, and use a firm pressure while making a stirring-like motion in order to ground your material. If the item resists, you can try some firm but gentle pounding to start initial cracks. Grind into your preferred consistency.

4: Clean your Mortar and Pestle

Cleaning depends a bit on the material of the mortar and pestle. If it is not dishwasher-safe (such as a wooden set), clean with warm water and dish soap. If your mortar is being used for one, non-food-related purpose (such as grinding fish food) you might be able to skip this step.

easy riggggght~?!

this is a visual on how to use it to be more clear. Its useful and and serves a good purpose in cooking..

Douglas Ford, sous-chef at LA's Lucques, uses a mortar and pestle a lot for things like grinding spices or garlic. It's often preferable to a mechanical device like a blender or Cuisinart, because the heat those devices create will cause some ingredients to oxidize more quickly and turn brown...check this out;)

My CREATIVE ideas of what we can do with mortar and pestle in the future

-This is an exercise we did in class. We have to come out with different new fresh ideas of what we can do with mortar and pestle in the year 20100! So this was i come up with:D

My mind map of Mortar and Pestle:

-We also did a simple mind map in class for our studies. To me, the purpose of mind map is to expand more of our ideas on a subject or matter. Take mortar and pestle as an example. This is my mind map of it and see how i expand my thoughts of mortar and pestle through it. Strangely to know its related to almost everything matter in our life;p