10/16/10 Using a mortar and pestle

Carved and polished out of heavy marble, this ingenious invention makes everything about spices more intense, sensual. You drop the flakes or seeds into the bowl, you take the rough-bottomed stick and strike and strike and strike the fragrant seeds as they release their aroma. Your hand and wrist draw lazy circles, ellipses, squiggles on the floor of the bowl. To finish the spice into a usable powder, you need to increase your effort, your arm and hand working in a churning, rapid, almost frantic pace until you are done, and can see that the product is now a homogeneous granulation.