The ultimate portable mortar and pestle
This cast iron mortar is super strong and robust, yet in a handy size! With it, you can grind salt, pepper, and other coarse spices like cardamom into a fine powder. The mortar is made of cast iron and has a pestle made of cast iron and acacia wood. The mortar has a diameter of 6.5 centimeters, making it nice and compact. Ideal for when you only want to grind pepper or cardamom for one dish. The mortar has non-slip feet, so you can work with it comfortably and safely. We are fans, and many other spice users with us.
Also nice to put on the table next to a salt cellar, as an alternative to a pepper mill!
The mortar is 5 cm high and weighs about 2.5 kg.
More about this mortar
If you use a lot of spices in the kitchen, then there's really no getting around it: a mortar and pestle belongs in your kitchen.
Within our team, we have tried many different mortars. From wood, to ceramic, to natural stone. Most mortars are incredibly clunky. Or you have one of those ceramic versions that you can't really apply any force with at all. So we were looking for the perfect mortar and we found it in this one.
Heavy and sturdy, yet small and handy. It looks stylish in your kitchen, but also fits easily into any kitchen cabinet.
Ideal for (coarsely) grinding a few cardamom pods, some black pepper, a spoonful of fennel seeds, or a small batch of your own spice mix.
Frequently asked questions
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Air, light, and moisture are detrimental to the quality of your spices. Therefore, store them in a tightly sealed jar or tin that is opaque (or in a dark kitchen cupboard or drawer). Also, avoid storing them above your stove, as cooking fumes can affect them. Always transfer spices from a repack into a well-sealing jar or tin as quickly as possible.
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The shelf life of spices is mainly determined by the loss of flavour that occurs over time, as they generally don't spoil otherwise. We use a shelf life of 2.5 - 3 years after harvest. This depends partly on the time of bottling and also whether they are whole spices that you grind yourself or pre-ground powder.
Spices in the supermarket are often already 2-3 years old before they are even bottled and then get a shelf life of another 3-5 years. Always use your senses to determine if they are still good. At some point, they just won't have any flavour left, which would be a shame for that beautiful meal!
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We do not have organic certification, even though our spices do meet these standards. All farmers work in harmony with nature and without pesticides, but the certification process is unfortunately very expensive. For small farmers, it's actually unaffordable. And we want to show them that it is worthwhile to grow spices sustainably. That there are people who are willing to pay for a quality natural product and that they don't first have to make a huge impossible investment in the form of certification.
Some of our farmers do have the certificate, by the way. Corporations, for example, can apply for the certification process jointly, which makes it much more affordable. But to be allowed to put this on the packaging, our entire chain would also have to be certified, including the Sheltered Workshop where the spices are packaged. This is currently not possible because they also work for other non-organic producers. So in short: no, we are not officially certified, but the quality and way of working are at least as good.
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Single Origin means that a product comes from one specific place. Often, harvests from different places, sometimes even from different countries and different years, are mixed together. Traders do this to develop the cheapest possible product with a consistent taste. With us, you know exactly where your spices come from, right down to the name of the farmer. This also means that the quality can sometimes vary, as it is a natural product. For example, one year may be drier than another, which can lead to a change in taste. But our farmers always strive for the highest possible taste experience, and you can taste it!
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We always strive to purchase the latest harvest. It can happen, of course, that we still have some of the previous harvest in stock when the new harvest is already available. So we can't always guarantee that you'll receive the absolute latest harvest, but we do aim for it as much as possible. On the packaging, you'll find a QR code leading to a page where you can find out exactly when your spices were harvested and when they were filled into the tins/pouches. With this, we aim for complete transparency in our process.
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We ship to most European countries, but this will naturally involve higher shipping costs. Would you like to order from a country but are unable to? Please contact us so we can look into the options.
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At the Siza Social Workshop, they do their utmost to pack the parcels the day after the order. When it's busy, it might take an extra day. They don't work on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, so if you order on a Thursday, for example, it will take a bit longer before your parcel is shipped.
Once the parcels are ready, they are picked up by the Groene Rijders and delivered by their bicycle couriers in the areas they serve, or outsourced to PostNL. Depending on how busy they are, they also aim to deliver within 1 working day.