HIC Kitchen Mushroom Mortar and Pestle Spice Herb Grinder Pill Crusher Set, Solid Carrara Marble

Love ther pestal. It works amazing.

Where has this thing been all my life...?? I am a Pink Mediterranean Sea Salt Junkie... lol And this is the perfect Grinder for it. I buy it coarse & grind it up into all different kinds of textures. It really brings out that gentle crunchiness Pink Sea Salt brings to the table.I've seen the mixed reviews here, & if you feel yours really was not made right, I would definitely send it back for an exchange. Mine didn't arrive perfect, because these are hand crafted, but it didn't arrive with the glaring defects in workmanship that others are experiencing. If it doesn't look right, you should be able to exchange it for one that is. Mine looks, operates, & fits together fine.Some people are concerned that they are eating finely ground marble along with their salts or spices. I see what they mean, but there's probably actually more of that same material in my Sea Salts, than is coming off of my Grinder. According to the Wikipedia, "Limestone is a sedimentary rock, composed mainly of skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, forams, and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3)." Calcium Carbonate is commonly used in Calcium supplements & dietary antacid tablets. So like Sea Salts...it is organic.If you don't like the texture of your ground spices or salts, practice with it. You'll get better at using it over time. When you grind, work things around in small circles around the curve of the bowl. The more I experiment with mine, I get a better feel for it, and the nicer & more interesting my textures are coming out.The one con I have for this item is that it arrived with a major crack in the marble that runs down one side. It is otherwise well-made, but I hope it does not crack all the way across & break apart over time. I'm not exchanging it because other than this it is well-made.

I got this as a gift for my mom, she had been pointing out wooden ones we saw at the farmers market. I decided to give this one a try as it matched the counter tops. Nothing was missing, nothing was broken, it was heavier so it didn’t scoot across the table easily. So far I think it’s a good investment, and it might be worth giving a shot!

received this for the ice water hack for the coarse pink Himalayan salt works great and used it on other like well tasted bread for chicken and fish

This product is pretty good, however, the gritty lines inside are not pronounced enough for my liking. I bought this particular one based on someone's review that the lines were very pronounced, but I didn't find that to be the case. The ridges seemed very shallow and not raised enough for my liking.

Really nice set. Easy to grip, nice weight. Great size, easy to use!

I love this set. It is heavy, but works wonderful. I like the big handle and space to squish. So pretty.

The mortar is grooved with a crater in the middle that the pestle can't even get into so you end up with chunks you have to dig out and put on the side of the mortar somewhere. After that your have to keep it straight up and not try to use the pestle at an angle because if doesn't actually hit the side at that point. When you use the set, if any part of the pestle rubs into the mortar a fine stone dust is created so you end up with stone dust in whatever you are crushing. The only way to fix this is to get sandpaper and sand down the inside of the mortar, which is a pain. I only read the reviews of this product AFTER I had it and used it. I noticed a good number of people who have this same issue.When I first received the set I was inspecting it for damage and found the polish on the outside was chipping off of the pestle and some was overhanging the side. I had to go over the rim of the pestle and chip off all of the sharp edges of the pestle. With this finally done I tried moving the pestle around in the mortar and it would bind often and if you are really trying to get a fine consistency it doesn't seem like the pestle even hits the bottom of the mortar. The sides of the pestle hit more then the rest of it.One of the points in the description states "Closely fitted design, with smooth action and optimized grinding surface helps speed up food preparation and minimize effort." This is an absolute falsehood other than the closely fitted design part. The action is anything but smooth and the grinding surface of the pestle does not actually hit everywhere in the mortar.If you like to modify the things you buy so they work correctly this is a great buy. But, if you would like the things you buy to work out of the box as designed and advertised I would stay away from this one.