Vasconia 4-Cup Granite Molcajete Mortar and Pestle, Gray

This thing is massive! A tremendous bargain, IMO. Very solid, low CoG, and quality finish. Should handle just about any herb and spice duties you have, perhaps short of gently crushing ingredients for a Thai green papaya salad, but you can be careful and/or use a wooden dowel. Make sure you wash both pieces when they arrive, which is easy as long as you can lift it, as you can physically smell the “quarry dust” from them. Won’t kill you, but not great for the teeth or texture, especially if entertaining.

Ok, I bought this due to reviews and the size. Very happy I did pick this one. The smaller ones are not practical for anything more than grinding spices. This one so far I've made (actual recipe names) Salsa Verde de Molcajete, Guacamole de Molcajete, and another guacamole using avocados and tomatillos. The size is nice as the ingredients don't come out. It holds enough for a group, and is kind of fun to make in front of people. The quality is great, very sturdy. Some key points, if you just got one and don't know, read all of the following. NEVER wash with soap! Molcajete Cure Recipe Instructions: 1.-Thoroughly clean the Mexican Molcajete with soap and water. 2.-With your pestle, grind some garlic up to a paste and spread all over the inside of the mortar. 3.-Leave it to rest, through a whole night. 4.-The next day rinse away the garlic from the mortar and presto! your on your way to prepare your delicious Mexican salsas and guacamoles. 5.- This Mexican recipe also can be used to prepare(cure) you cast iron plate or comal, where you can warm up your tortillas, quesadillas, sopes and Mexican tamales. 2 MORE RECIPES TO CURE MOLCAJETES 1) Baking the Molcajete: Inside the molcajete itself, create a paste using onion, garlic, and cooking oil as the base. Spread the paste and be sure to cover all the pores on the inner part of the molcajete. Then place it inside the oven and bake it for 30 minutes at 300 degrees so that the paste thoroughly permeates the stone. Once the molcajete has cooled off, wash it thoroughly with soap and water. 2) Boiling the Molcajete: Place the molcajete on the stove grill and fill it with water and a lot of grain salt and vinegar. Allow the water to boil and let it be thoroughly consumed. Now let it cool off and cover any left over pores with uncooked rice, using the tejolote (pestle) to grind. Finally, as a test: Before using a Molcajete for your first salsa: grind up some sea salt (thick) then some crushed corn until they come out clean and free of debris. Finally, clean the molcajete with a scrub and water and the molcajete is ready for use. Try one of the two curing methods and do a test. This should take care of the shedding problem and you will be ready to make your salsas. Alternate info: You must season your molcajete before you use it. Otherwise whatever you prepare in it will just taste like dirt/rock. Place a handful of rice in the molcajete and grind until it is gray. Throw this rice out and repeat until the ground rice is still white. This may take quite some time. Best to do it over a few hours or a few days, otherwise you will end up with a sore wrist and shaved knuckles. Happy Cooking! Rock Salt is the key to seasoning a brand new " molcajete ". Using the "pestle" that came with the bowl, put in some rock salt and " grind " it into all surfaces of the molcajete. When the rock salt becomes table salt rinse the bowl. Repeat this procedure until the inside of the bowl is smooth to the touch. This will take at least one-two hours of " work " to make the surface smooth, depending on the size of the molcajete. This may seem tedious, but it is well worth it. Here is another tip about the preparation and care of your newly acquired molcajete. First, soak the molcajete for 8-12 hours in lukewarm water to fill the porous surface and allow the flavors you will soon add to soak in. Then, take some of your favorite spices (we recommend a few cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of comino (cumin), salt and pepper) and grind vigorously until they are mostly absorbed by the surface. Lastly, you should not use dish soap to clean your molcajete, nor should you put it in the dishwasher. A thorough rinse with hot (very hot) water shortly after using is all the cleaning your molcajete will ever need. Just like your trusty cast iron skillets, it only gets better with age.

It’s super heavy and good quality. I recommend it. Not cheap at all.

Super heavy. Do not expect this thing to be easy to move around. It’s a big rock. Using it is even a workout. That said I love it. The size lets me make spice blends and get my whole arm into it without worrying about spillage as much like with a small mortar and pestle. It gets smoother the more I use it. But it’s now assigned to one place in the kitchen it’s too heavy to put away or move around. I suggest a lower counter top for yours arms sake. It’s easier if I am not at counter level but more like table level.

2025 Jan 03 So first, I’ve had this product for about 2 weeks so this is an early review and I will provide an update in several months. The packaging was quite adequate; the heavy mortar was perfectly protected. Construction was very good and I’m in the process of seasoning the mortar (as described in a previous review). I eat a diet that is primarily Mediterranean and Sichuan/Hunan vegetarian & fish cuisine so this mortar will be getting a workout, probably 2-3 times/week. I usually cook for myself so even when I do a meal + leftovers, I could have used a 2cup capacity mortar, but I do enough guest dinners and potlucks that this 4cup mortar is the perfect size. I routinely use ground garlic, ginger, onion, coriander, cumin, peppers. herbs and seeds so I can tell you the pestle shape and size work well to give me a quick and uniform grind texture. Overall, I’m a very happy camper with the quality and performance of the set. I only have one negative remark: this product is made in China (see photo). Normally, I preface all of my searches with “made in USA“ or “not made in China“, but this time I didn’t, because many of the mortars and pestles I’ve seen have been made in Mexico or elsewhere in Latin America. My fault, lesson learned.

It is very good food grinded in the mortor tastes very good natural taste makes like it very much full of flavours

I had to season it first. But works really well. I like the shape of the pestle. Good size for making larger batches of salsa

Great piece of kit, very heavy and robust , looks exceptional on the side board

Just loving this so much, it’s so perfect to grind your homemade spices, also perfect to make ginger & garlic paste. I made so many chutney’s on this Love the depth on this, perfect 👍

El corte de la piedra es bastante fino y le da una buena presentación al Producto; las dimensiones son adecuadas a lo que estaba buscando. Prepare una salsa y salio bastante bien. Logicamente que antes de esto hay que llevar un Proceso de curado con sal y ajo y lavarlo bastante bien para retirar todo el polvo y piedritas derivadas del corte pero no traía mucho por lo que fue fácil. Muy recomendable.