A mortar and pestle are two tools used with each other to grind and mix substances.
The mortar is a bowl-like vessel used to contain a substance. Mortars have smooth, rounded bottoms and wide mouths. The pestle is a stick used for pounding and grinding.
Mortar and pestles were traditionally used in pharmacies to crush various ingredients prior to preparing an extemporaneous prescription. The mortar and pestle is the most common icon associated with pharmacies. 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.
Mortars are also used in cooking to prepare ingredients, grinding fresh herbs into a powder form. Very large mortars are used with wooden mallets to prepare mochi. A regular sized Japanese mortar and pestle is called suribachi and surikogi. Granite mortars and pestles are used in Southeast Asia for grinding spices.
Native American tribes used mortars carved into the bedrock to grind acorns and other nuts. Many of the depressions can be found in their former territories.
A mortar is a bowl shaped container made of a hard wood, marble, pottery, or stone.
The pestle is a bat shaped tool that is used to grind inside the mortar (bowl) and pulverize grains, herbs, and other food substances as well as medicines.
It is a bull and measures 16" from the tip of the nose to the edge of the bowl and it's 4 1/2" deep, 8 1/2" high and weighs 36 pounds.
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.
Mortars and pestles are also used as drug paraphernalia by some in order to grind up pills to speed up absorption when they are ingested or in preparation for insufflation (snorting).
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.
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