Electric Spice Grinder Recommendations

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Mlan

Mlan

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After years of using a mortar and pestle I am looking to upgrade and buy an electric spice grinder to make my life a bit easier. Just curious as to what others use and like. My max budget is $60. Thanks for the help!
 
I used to work at an Indian place. We used a beat up commercial coffee grinder. I would buy whatever cheap electric conical burr grinder is available in your area. Let's you grind the stuff coarse or fine without beating the snit out of it like with a rotating blade.
 
Haven't tried it myself but people often use the Krups F203 for this (small electric coffee grinder). Personally I use a grinding attachment I have for my Bamix stick blender.
 
I used the Krups one above for a while and liked it. When it finally broke, I used this $15 proctor-silex, which had one thing going for it--the cord stores by coiling in the base.
https://www.proctorsilex.com/fresh-grind-coffee-grinder-white-e160byrI've never tried a conical burr grinder, but @stringer brings up a good point about different size grinds. I'm not having an easy time finding one for $15 though...
 
I use the Krups coffee grinder and it's mostly good. The grinder can handle most things I throw at it (except for bulky stuff like large black cardamom pods, aged citrus peels). Cleaning could be a nuisance if you're grinding oily spice
 
Mlan said:
https://www.amazon.com/KRUPS-GX5508...id=1625105811&s=kitchen&sr=1-8&ts_id=14092821
This is the cheapest conical burr grinder I could find. Looks nice. Might pull the trigger on it.
Click to expand...

That actually looks pretty good... I've been looking for a burr grinder for spices to replace my hand-crank Khaw-Fee HG1B grinder, which was great at consistent grinds. Unfortunately, the metal used in the crank handle was too soft, and eventually the slot in the handle that mates with the spindle stripped. Not to mention the amount of time required to grind anything more than a tablespoon or two of spices....

I've owned a couple of the spinning-blade grinders, and I've never been impressed with the consistency of the grind, regardless of the ingredient. I always get some fine powder and some large chunks.
 
McMan said:
Grinding a few batches of raw white rice, wiping out between each batch, does the trick.
Click to expand...
just make sure it's the 'minute rice' crap, and not rice that needs 20-40 min cooking time as that is WAY harder and will wear the burrs more than you want.
(minute rice is often used to season or break in new burrs for espresso)
 
Keith Sinclair said:
That's a flat burr grinder, not conical. Flat burr is
is good too. Must be electric where conical can
be hand crank or electric. Low RPM conical are best but usually cost more. Used to hand crank
years now use expensive electric conical Burr
grinder.
Click to expand...
Are there any hand crank conical grinders you would recommend?
 
I had the Camano coffee grinder with metal gears. The oil in coffee beans kept the gears working for years. When wanted to make fine grind espresso switched to conical low RPM quiet espresso grinder.

I've heard the Cuisinart Spice & Nut grinder works well. No wet spices. We grow fresh spices in garden use small cleaver to chop.

Dried whole spices if you can get them are better than pre ground that lose freshness
Rather quickly after commercially ground.
It's same with coffee
 
I use the Cuisinart Spice & Nut grinder. It's much better for spices than for nuts. It's a flat blade grinder rather than a burr, but what I especially like about it is that the metal bowl and blade are designed to be removed for washing. This completely eliminates any carryover smells or tastes between different spices.
 
Last edited:
Mlan said:
Are there any hand crank conical grinders you would recommend?
Click to expand...

for spice or coffee?
I reckon for spice most will do, for espresso not so much...

Hario makes a few that are are cheap and rather decently made but they do not well for espresso, yet they should prove to work for spices well enough.
 
Don't give me a hard time. Been watching Guy Fieri Diners, Drive Ins, & Dives. On food channel.

He does quite a few food trucks including ones I know on Oahu. You would be surprised some of good grinds that come from food trucks.

Some of his shows have nothing I like, others hidden gems of great ethic dishes.

Watched one recently had Pakistani food. This gal was whipping up sauces in a blender you know are excellent. She made chicken with all fresh ground spices. Nothing from a jar.
Sure looked like a Cuisinart Spice & Nut grinder. Cooked in Tandoori oven. Made flat bread from scratch also in oven. A lamb dish with seasoned rice that looked awesome.
 
I'm not quite sure what the OP is looking for here. I usually use a few dedicated purpose spice grinders (peppers and nutmeg) plus a motar & pestle but I also have a Krups whirly blade electric grinder and am not dissatisfied with the results.
Burr coffee grinders are designed for extremely even grinds but I'm not sure why that matters for dried herbs and spices? Plus for the meticulous I can envision a stripping and cleaning routine that I would find burdensome. The little, cheap, Krups works fine IMO for home herb & spice use and is quick and easy to wipe out. If you really want to go down the burr coffee grinder road perhaps the manual Timemore C2? Decent electric burr coffee grinders will be $100+ (far more if you want to use it for espresso).
 
Our old spice grinder died which was an old coffee blade grinder. We had it a lot years. I ordered one of these Cuisinart Spice & Nut grinders for grinding spices. I like you can wash it.
 
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