Question about spice grinding

What do you guys use for spice grinding? I see so many recipes which call for it and I usually shy away. IS a "mechanical" grinder just like the little coffee grinders where you push on the lid to make it go? If so how do you keep clean? I would think you would start to accumulate a mix of spices over time

TIA

I buy a lot of ground spices in stores (Szechuan pepper, coriander, raw cumin, garam masala, etc). The only one I regularly grind is roasted cumin where I roast the seeds with a little oil - then grind it by hand in a mortar and pestle.
That said I don't often make that in a big quantity (or that regularly, I rely on raw cumin more often) so it's not a huge task

Hi John
I have been using a small coffee grinder for years for grinding spices and I find it works really well, (I have a separate one for the coffee) To keep it clean I just wipe it out with a cloth or papertowel or use a small dry brush and that seems to do the job.

Hi John
I have been using a small coffee grinder for years for grinding spices and I find it works really well, (I have a separate one for the coffee) To keep it clean I just wipe it out with a cloth or papertowel or use a small dry brush and that seems to do the job.

Ditto. Works great.

thanks - I will report back!

I have both a mortar and pestle, and a dedicated coffee grinder I got at a garage sale. It's easy to wipe out both utensils.

We have both mortar and pestle and dedicated spice-coffee-grinder as well. I virtually never use the mortar and pestle.

Like others, a dedicated coffee grinder and a mortar and pestle. These days the mortar and pestle gets used only when I'm feeling guilty about the number of gadgets/gizmos/chupchiks/machines in the kitchen or when I am showing off for my young nieces.


Best
Rogov

I use either a Microplane (not technically grinding, but works perfectly on things like nutmeg and cinnamon) or a great mortar and pestle I brought back from Argentina.

[Jenise]

I also keep a coffee grinder just for grinding spices. I honestly almost never clean it since the ingredients are dry, I just shake out the dust. However, the best way to clean it if you have to is to whiz up a few pieces of fresh bread--the blades will move the bread around to collect the dust and form an easily removable ball.

Dedicated coffee-grinder. Mortar and pestle. Pepper mill. Nutmeg grater. I'd rather cut or smash garlic than use a tool on it.

As do others, I have a small coffee grinder dedicated to grinding dry spices. I occasionally use a mortar and pestle as well. For wet-grinding, I use a food processor, but I'm considering getting an Indian-style motorized wet grinder. There are some things in South Asian cooking that don't grind well in a food processor, and which take too long using the traditional mortar and pestle or grinding stones.

-Paul W.