The Old-School Spice Tool You Should Add To Your Thrift Store Hunt

Your local neighborhood thrift store is like a modern-day treasure island without the map. There might be a ton of booty within its boundaries but probably no X to mark the spot. So shoppers really have to hone their secondhand gold-lined glassware and rare throwback hotel silver identification skills to bring home the goods. The same goes for more functionality-forward items, like a sturdy cast iron mortar and pestle.

Cast iron of any kind is a great candidate for thrifting thanks to its durability. It's a terrific material for a mortar and pestle, in particular, because of its application. This is one of your more aggressive manual kitchen tools, created to grind down tough spices like Sichuan peppercorns — and maybe get out a little frustration in the process. So this is some equipment that needs to be able to take a beating. Wood or porcelain mortar and pestle sets can be pretty, but they're more liable to crack. A cast iron duo can bash up flavors for generations with proper maintenance.

The first thing you want to do when you bring anything home from the thrift store is give it a good cleaning. But years of debate about how to properly clean a cast iron skillet might have left you rattled. Your mortar and pestle are made of the same darn metal, after all, just in different shapes. Do not worry. It is totally fine to wash your cast iron with soap and water. You just want to make sure to dry it promptly and thoroughly to avoid rust. You can also season it with a spot of oil to further stave off rust.

Should some past or present bit of moisture invite the dastardly oxide, you can remove rust from cast iron without ruining it. A gentle scrub and a vinegar soak can work wonders. Once your superior mortar and pestle are back in tip-top shape, you'll see why it pays to grind your own spices in perpetuity.