Wade Ceramics mortar and pestles for best price?

[isabel23]

I'm looking for either the Wade Ceramics Milton Brook mortar and pestle (http://www.cookware.com/Wade-Ceramics-MMP1-00-WCM1108.html) or the Wade Ceramics American Masala mortar and pestle (http://www.cookware.com/Wade-Ceramics...) for pick up in Toronto.

I know Williams Sonoma has the Milton Brook for $72, but was hoping to find one for a bit cheaper. Any tips? Thanks.

[jayt90]

P.A.T. sells a Canadian granite mortar and pestle. It was $20 when I bought one, maybe more now, but it is big, heavy, much like Jamie Oliver's in Naked Chef.

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P.A.T. East Market
1973 Lawrence Ave E, Toronto, ON M1R, CA

[1sweetpea]

If it's aesthetics you're after then that's cool, but if you're seeking a functional mortar and pestle then why not go to the source(s) for the real thing ... at a fraction of the price? I'd poke around in Chinatowns around the GTA or on Gerrard, near Coxwell for an Indian incarnation. I bought my Thai mortar and pestle for under $30 a number of years ago in a Southeast Asian store. It's sizeable and heavy duty. There were smaller ones, but I chose the larger size so that I could make Thai cilantro pesto or bash up entire heads of garlic without any bits flying out into my face. Sure, it's too bulky to sit and look pretty on my counter, but when I pull that thing out to pulverize my aromatics, people gather around to watch me pound out my frustrations on unsuspecting spices, herbs, rhizomes and alliums.

[tweaked]

The Homesense on Yonge st., along with the Winners locations in town that have housewares, all have a rather large stock of enormous stone mortar and pestles for ten dollars. They're shockingly heavy, but they look great, and work great - I picked one up a few weeks ago and have been exceedingly happy with it.

[isabel23]

I saw a great one from Winners during the summer, but I was too slow and missed it.

But today I just picked up a tiny BIA Cordon Bleu one for $10 at High-Tech on Front Street and Jarvis. It's not as beautiful as those ones, or as large and useful as the big ones you mentioned, but I guess it will do for now.

[1sweetpea]

I have a tiny marble one and it's not that useful to me. More peppercorns seem to fly out of it and into dark corners of my kitchen than stay inside to be crushed. The same is true with most whole spices. It's okay for very small amounts that only need to be crushed, but for bigger jobs, I'd move to a much larger size. It's very cute, though.

[Kagemusha]

I've seen several "affordable" sets that appeared to be stone that were actually a form concrete as a nearby broken model revealed. Seems to be common among the bigger, cheaper sets. Picked up a smallish glazed porcelain set years ago from IKEA that works well.

[isabel23]

Oh, I saw a white IKEA one online, which was what I was looking for to begin with (http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/uimag...). It looks like a knock-off of the Milton Brook version, but for cheap. Now IKEA only has a new version that looks nothing like the Milton Brook.