Mortar and pestle is a set of two simple
tools used from the
Stone Age
The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...
to the present day to prepare ingredients or substances by crushing and grinding them into a fine paste or powder in the
kitchen,
laboratory, and
pharmacy
Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...
. The ''mortar'' () is characteristically a bowl, typically made of hard wood, metal, ceramic, or hard stone such as
granite. The ''pestle'' (,
also ) is a blunt, club-shaped object. The substance to be ground, which may be wet or dry, is placed in the mortar where the pestle is pounded, pressed, and rotated into the substance until the desired texture is achieved.
Mortars and pestles have been used in cooking since prehistory; today they are typically associated with the profession of
pharmacy
Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...
due to their historical use in preparing medicines. They are used in chemistry settings for pulverizing small amounts of chemicals; in arts and cosmetics for pulverizing pigments, binders, and other substances; in
ceramic
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelai ...
s for making
grog; in
masonry and in other types of construction requiring pulverized materials. In cooking, they are typically used to crush spices, to make
pesto and certain cocktails such as the
mojito, which requires the gentle crushing of sugar, ice, and mint leaves in the glass with a pestle.
The invention of mortars and pestles seems related to that of quern-stones, which use a similar principle of naturally indented, durable, hard stone bases and mallets of stone or wood to process food and plant materials, clay, or minerals by stamping, crushing, pulverizing and grinding.
A key advantage of the mortar is that it presents a deeper bowl for confining the material to be ground without the waste and spillage that occurs with flat grinding stones. Another advantage is that the mortar can be made large enough for a person to stand upright and adjacent to it and use the combined strength of their upper body and the force of gravity for better stamping. Large mortars allow for several people with several pestles to stamp the material faster and more efficiently. Working over a large mortar that a person can stand next to is physically easier and more
ergonomical
Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learnin ...
(by ensuring a better posture of the whole body) than for a small quern, where a person has to crouch and use the uncomfortable, repetitive motion of hand grinding by sliding.
Mortars and pestles anticipate modern blenders and grinders and can be described as having the function of small, mobile, hand-operated mills that don't require electricity or fuel to operate.
Large wooden mortars and wooden pestles would predate and lead to the invention of butterchurns, as domestication of livestock and use of dairy (during the
Neolithic) came well after the mortar and pestle. Butter would be churned from cream or milk in a wooden container with a long wooden stick, very like the use of wooden mortars and pestles.
History
Mortars and pestles were invented in the Stone Age, when humans found that processing food and various other materials by grinding and crushing into smaller particles allowed for improved use and various advantages, such as hard grains could be cooked and digested easier if ground first, grog would vastly improve fired clay and larger objects such as blocks of salt would be much easier to handle and use when ground and pulverized into smaller pieces. Various stone mortars and pestles have been found, while wooden or clay ones would perish much easier during the course of time.
Scientists have found ancient mortars and pestles in Southwest Asia that date back to approximately 35000 BC.
Stone mortars and pestles have also been used by the
Kebaran culture
The Kebaran culture, also known as the Early Near East Epipalaeolithic, was an archaeological culture in the Eastern Mediterranean area (c. 23,000 to 15,000 BP), named after its type site, Kebara Cave south of Haifa. The Kebaran were a highly mob ...
(
Levant with
Sinai) from 22000 to 18000 BC to crush grains and other plant material. The Kebaran mortars that have been found are sculpted, slightly conical bowls of porous stone, and the pestles are made of a smoother type of stone.
Another Stone Age example are the rock mortars in the
Raqefet Cave in
Israel, which are natural cavities in the cave floors, used by Late
Natufians around 10000 BC to grind cereals for brewing beer in the cavities. These rock mortars are large enough for a person to stand upright by them and crush the cereals inside the cavity with a long wooden pestle.
Ancient Africans, Sumerians, Egyptians, Polynesians, Native Americans, Chinese, Indians, Greeks, Celts and countless other people used mortars and pestles for processing materials and substances for cooking, arts, cosmetics, simple chemicals, ceramics and medicine.
Since the 14th century, bronze mortars became more popular than stone ones, especially for use in alchemy and early chemistry. Bronze mortars would become more elaborate than stone ones, and had the advantage to be harder, and were easily cast with handles, knobs for handling and spouts for easier pouring. However, the big disadvantage was that bronze would react with acids and other chemicals and corrode easily. Since the late 17th century, glazed porcelain mortars became very useful, since they wouldn't be damaged by chemicals and would be easy to clean.
Etymology
The English word ''mortar'' derives from middle English ''morter'', from old French ''mortier'', from classical
Latin ''mortarium'', meaning, among several other usages, "receptacle for pounding" and "product of grinding or pounding"; perhaps related to Sanskrit "mrnati" - to crush, to bruise.
The classical Latin ''pistillum'', meaning "pounder", led to English ''pestle''. Stemming from the pistillum, the word
pesto in Italian cuisine means created with the pestle.
The Roman poet
Juvenal applied both ''mortarium'' and ''pistillum'' to articles used in the preparation of drugs, reflecting the early use of the mortar and pestle as a symbol of a pharmacist or apothecary.
Mortar as a synonym for cement in masonry came from the use of mortars and pestles to grind the materials for creating cement. The short
bombard __NOTOC__
Bombard may refer to the act of carrying out a bombardment. It may also refer to:
Individuals
*Alain Bombard (1924–2005), French biologist, physician and politician; known for crossing the Atlantic on a small boat with no water or food
...
cannon was called "mortar" in French, because the first versions of these cannons looked like big metal mortars of the Medieval Ages and they required to be filled with gunpowder, like a mortar would be full of powdered material.
Mortar and pestle in culture and symbols
The antiquity of the mortar and pestle is well documented in early writing, such as the Egyptian
Ebers Papyrus of ~1550 BC (the oldest preserved piece of medical literature) and the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
(Numbers 11:8 and Proverbs 27:22).
In Indian mythology, Samudra Manthan from Bhagavata Purana creates amrita, the nectar of immortality, by churning the ocean with a pestle.
Since medieval times, mortars would be placed or carved on the gravestones of pharmaceuts and doctors.
In Russian and Eastern European folklore,
Baba Yaga is described and pictured as flying through the forest standing inside a large wooden mortar (stupa), holding the long wooden pestle in one hand to remove obstacles in front of her, and using the broom in her other hand to sweep and remove her traces behind her. This seems as a trace of some ancient rituals connecting the witch symbols of Baba Yaga with the use of mortars in alchemy, pharmacy and early chemistry, which were all seen as magic by uneducated people in Medieval Ages.
Modern pharmacies, especially in Germany, still use mortars and pestles as logos.
Uses
Medicine
Mortars and pestles were traditionally used in pharmacies to crush various ingredients prior to preparing an extemporaneous
prescription. The mortar and pestle, with the
Rod of Asclepius, the Green Cross, and others, is one of the most pervasive symbols of pharmacology, along with the
show globe.
For pharmaceutical use, the mortar and the head of the pestle are usually made of
porcelain, while the handle of the pestle is made of
wood. This is known as a
Wedgwood mortar and pestle and originated in 1759. Today the act of mixing ingredients or reducing the particle size is known as
trituration.
Mortars and pestles are also used as
drug paraphernalia to grind up pills to speed up absorption when they are
ingested
Ingestion is the consumption of a substance by an organism. In animals, it normally is accomplished by taking in a substance through the mouth into the gastrointestinal tract, such as through eating or drinking. In single-celled organisms ingesti ...
, or in preparation for
insufflation. To finely ground drugs, not available in liquid
dosage form is used also if patients need artificial nutrition such as
parenteral nutrition or by
nasogastric tube.
Food preparation
Mortars are also used in cooking to prepare wet or oily ingredients such as
guacamole,
hummus
Hummus (, ; ar, حُمُّص, 'chickpeas'; full Arabic name: ''ḥummuṣ bi-ṭ-ṭaḥīna'' ar, حمص بالطحينة, 'chickpeas with tahini'), also spelled hommus or houmous, is a Middle Eastern dip, spread, or savory dish made fr ...
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
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...
and
Maya, stretching back several thousand years, is made of
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of a ...
and is used widely in Mexican cooking. Other
Native American nations use mortars carved into the
bedrock
In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet.
Definition
Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...
to grind
acorn
The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'' and '' Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally
two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne ...
s and other nuts. Many such depressions can be found in their territories.
In
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the no ...
, very large mortars are used with wooden
mallet
A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. The term is descriptive of the overall size and proport ...
s to prepare
mochi. A regular sized
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the no ...
ese 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
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
. In
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
, it is 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 decreased. It is traditional in various
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
ceremonies (such as weddings, and
upanayanam) to crush
turmeric in these mortars.
In
Malay, it is known as ''batu lesung''. Large
stone mortars, with long (2–3 foot) wood pestles were used in
West Asia to grind meat for a type of
meatloaf, or
kibbeh, as well as the
hummus
Hummus (, ; ar, حُمُّص, 'chickpeas'; full Arabic name: ''ḥummuṣ bi-ṭ-ṭaḥīna'' ar, حمص بالطحينة, 'chickpeas with tahini'), also spelled hommus or houmous, is a Middle Eastern dip, spread, or savory dish made fr ...
variety known as
masabcha. In
Indonesia and the Netherlands mortar is known as ''Cobek'' or ''Tjobek'' and pestle is known as ''Ulekan'' or ''Oelekan''. The chobek is shaped like a deep saucer or plate. The ulekan is either pistol-shaped or an ovoid. It is often used to make fresh
sambal, a spicy chili
condiment, hence the ''sambal ulek/oelek'' denote its process using pestle. It is also used to grind peanut and other ingredients to make peanut sauce for
gado-gado.
Husking and dehulling
Large mortars and pestles are still commonly used in developing countries to husk and dehull grain. These are usually made of wood, and operated by one or more persons.
In the
Philippines, mortar and pestles are specifically associated with de-husking
rice. A notable traditional mortar and pestle is the boat-shaped ''bangkang pinawa'' or ''bangkang pangpinawa'', literally "boat (''
bangka'') for unpolished rice", usually carved from a block of
molave or other hardwood. It is pounded by two or three people. The name for the mortar, ''lusong'', is the origin of the name of the largest island in the Philippines -
Luzon.
Large wooden mortars and pestles have been used to hull grain in West Africa for centuries. When enslaved Africans were brought to the Americas, they brought this technology—and knowledge of how to use it—with them. During the
Middle Passage
The Middle Passage was the stage of the Atlantic slave trade in which millions of enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas as part of the triangular slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manufactured goods (first ...
, some slave ships carried un-hulled rice, and enslaved African women were tasked with using mortars and pestles to prepare it for consumption. In both colonial North and South America, rice continued to be primarily milled by hand in this way until around the mid 1700s when mechanical mills became more widespread.
Material
Good mortar and pestle-making materials must be hard enough to crush the substance rather than be worn away by it. They cannot be too
brittle either, or they will break during the pounding and grinding. The material should also be cohesive, so that small bits of the mortar or pestle do not mix in with the ingredients. Smooth and non-porous materials are chosen that will not absorb or trap the substances being ground.
In
food preparation, a rough or absorbent material may cause the strong
flavour
Flavor or flavour is either the sensory perception of taste or smell, or a flavoring in food that produces such perception.
Flavor or flavour may also refer to:
Science
*Flavors (programming language), an early object-oriented extension to Lisp ...
of a past ingredient to be tasted in food prepared later. Also, the food particles left in the mortar and on the pestle may support the growth of
microorganisms. When dealing with
medications, the previously prepared
drugs
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalat ...
may interact or mix, contaminating the currently used ingredients.
Rough ceramic mortar and pestle sets can be used to reduce substances to very fine powders, but stain easily and are brittle. Porcelain mortars are sometimes conditioned for use by grinding some sand to give them a rougher surface which helps to reduce the particle size. Glass mortars and pestles are fragile, but stain-resistant and suitable for use with liquids. However, they do not grind as finely as the ceramic type.
Other materials used include stone, often marble or agate, wood (highly absorbent), bamboo, iron, steel, brass, and
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of a ...
. Mortar and pestle sets made from the wood of old grape vines have proved reliable for grinding salt and pepper at the dinner table. Uncooked rice is sometimes ground in mortars to clean them. This process must be repeated until the rice comes out completely white. Some stones, such as molcajete, need to be seasoned first before use. Metal mortars are kept lightly oiled.
Automatic mortar grinder
Since the results obtained with hand grinding are not easily reproducible, most laboratories use automatic mortar grinders. Grinding time and pressure of the mortar can be adjusted and fixed, saving time and labor.
The first automatic Mortar Grinder was invented by F. Kurt Retsch in 1923 and named the "Retschmill" after him.
Advantages
The use of mortar and pestle, pestling, offers the advantage that the substance is crushed with low energy so that the substance will not warm up.
Gallery
File:Mortar and Pestle - Greece.jpg, Mortar and Pestle from bronze alloy, Greece.
File:Mitmita being made in mortar and pestle.jpg, Mitmita made in Ethiopia.
File:Cobek.jpg, ''Tjobek'' the Indonesian word in Dutch spelling for mortars and pestles.
File:ओखल र मुसल.jpg, A traditional Nepali
Nepali or Nepalese may refer to :
Concerning Nepal
* Anything of, from, or related to Nepal
* Nepali people, citizens of Nepal
* Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...
mortar and pestle.
File:Molcajete y tejolote.jpg, Molcajete y tejolote, Mexico.
File:Lao cuisine khok.jpg, A Lao‑style mortar and pestle.
File:MörserPflanzenmaterial.jpg, Mortar used to pulverize plant material
File:Wooden mortar and pestle.jpg, A Wooden mortar and pestle
File:Khalili Collection Islamic Art mtw 0688 mtw 1354.1.jpg, alt=Pestle and mortar made of brass or quaternary copper alloy, piece cast, engraved, ringmatted and inlaid with silver, copper and a black compound., Iran, Khurasan. Late 12th or early 13th century AD. Khalili Collection.
File:Stone mortar unearthed at Khirbet Shumeila.jpg, A stone mortar unearthed at archaeological site in Israel
See also
*
Cupstone
Cupstones, also called anvil stones, pitted cobbles and nutting stones, among other names, are roughly discoidal or amorphous groundstone artifacts among the most common lithic remains of Native American culture, especially in the Midwestern ...
*
Dheki
*
Makitra
*
Metate
*
Millstone
Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones.
Millstones come in pairs: a convex stationary base known as the ''bedstone'' and ...
*
Muddler
*
Molcajete
*
Oralu kallu
*
Quern-stone
*
Stone and muller A stone and muller is a hand-operated tool used for mixing and grinding paint. The stone and muller was popular with artists and tradesmen from the late 18th through the 19th century. A stone and muller differs from a mortar and pestle in that the f ...
*
Suribachi and surikogi
*
''Usu'' and ''Kine'', large pestle and mortar used in the production of
Mochi
*
Yagen
is a crushing tool used in phytotherapy in Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, ...
*
Household Stone tools in Karnataka
Household stone implements in Karnataka, India used for wet grinding, dry grinding and pounding are oralu kallu, beeso kallu, dundagallu and kutni.
Pronunciation
In Kannada, the official and chief language of Karnataka, oralu kallu is written ...
*
The Knight of the Burning Pestle
References
External links
Example of an automatic mortar grinder
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mortar And Pestle
Food grinding tools
Alchemical tools
Laboratory porcelainware
Laboratory equipment
Professional symbols
Kebaran culture