Cleaning a salsa mortar/pestle?

Question

My boyfriend and I have argued over this thing he uses to make his salsa in, he is from mexico and he swears they just rinse it out but it gets mildewy smelling and never seems to dry all the way. It's like a giant mortar and pestle make of a porus stone. You can't use soap on it or it will absorb it and the salsa will taste like that. I don't think it's sanitary but I am just wondering if there is anyone who has one and how they clean it. I can't eat salsa out of it because it grosses me out. It's nothing like a cast iron pan where not washing it enhances the flavor. Hopefully someone knows what I am talking about

Answer 1

You are right, a porous mortar and pestle is a habitat for bacteria to grow.  Yes if you clean it with soap it will absorb the flavor of the soap, making any food that you make taste of soap.

My suggestion, rinse the mortar out with very hot water, even pour boiling water inside.  That should kill off any bacteria. to make sure you can then use, a water/distilled white vinegar solution,(or straight distilled white vinegar) and scrub it with a clean scrub brush,  then rinse with hot water and allow to air dry upside down on a rack.  

The distilled vinegar should evaporate, not adding any extra flavors to the next thing you use it for.  Because the vinegar is acid it kills off unwanted bacteria.  You are probably allright using the water/vinegar solution, then rinsing.  But if it still grosses you out use straight vinegar and rinse with boiling water.

The cast iron pan is a totally different thing, you actually heat that up to kill off the bacteria.  You could try to heat your mortar and pestle to kill the bacteria, but because it is a porous stone, it might crack if it is heated too hot, or too quickly.

However, you could probably get away with using the oven on a low temperature to make sure you that the mortar and pestle drys out thoroughly

I hope this helps.

Good Luck convincing your boyfriend.

Answer 2

agree with you, i use soak mine in lemon juice or viniger. then i rinse it off with boiling water and liquid soap