Volcanic mortar and pestle from Mexico. Among the world's oldest culinary tools, volcanic rock mortars and pestles like these have been used by cooks for thousands of years. Our molcajete (mortar) and tejolete (pestle) are hand carved from a single piece of basalt rock, so every piece is unique.
- Perfect for crushing whole spices and making spice blends.
- Ideal for blending and serving guacamole – or for making pesto and other rustic sauces.
- The best tool for making salsa.
- Rough interior texture of mortar helps crush and grind ingredients.
- Heavy pestle does the work for you, ensuring efficient grinding, blending and mixing.
Molcajete: 8.50" D x 5.00" H.
Tejolote: 2.50" D x 4.50" L.
You’ll want to cure and season your molcajete before putting it to work.
Here’s how: Rinse both the molcajete and the tejolote thoroughly, then add a few handfuls of white rice along. Grind the rice with the tejolote until you’ve covered the entire interior surface of the bowl and ground the rice into a powder(don’t forget to rotate the tejolote as you do so). You’ll be good to season once the rice has turned to a powder.
There’s many ways to season your molcajete. This is what we recommend: Using the tejolote, create a paste with three to six large heads of garlic and a tsp of salt. Spread the paste over the inside of the bowl so it seeps into every pore, then let it rest overnight and rinse with water in the morning.