Mills

Why freshly ground makes a difference

Spices hold their aroma in volatile oils that begin evaporating the moment they are ground. A jar of ground pepper on the shelf has lost most of it within months — it smells, but it does not bite.

The same applies to cumin, coriander, nutmeg and cinnamon. Whole they keep for years; ground, for weeks. A grinder costing a few euro noticeably improves every dish without changing anything else in the recipe.

Grinder or chopper?

Grinder. For dry ingredients — spices, coffee, nuts, sugar. A small chamber, fast blades, powder as the result.

Chopper. For wet and soft ingredients — onion, garlic, herbs, walnuts for stuffing. It chops in seconds what takes ten minutes with a knife, and without crying over the onion.

The chopper is one of the very few appliances that changes what you cook: once chopping stops being a chore, dishes you had abandoned come back to the table.

Practical points

Do not fill the chamber. The blades need room to circulate the ingredients. Half full works better than full, and two batches finish faster.

Pulse function. Short presses rather than continuous running. That is how you control how fine it gets — otherwise the onion turns to puree.

A separate grinder for coffee. If you also grind spices, the coffee will smell of cumin. For serious coffee use, see the coffee grinders.

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