Incredulously, Mark Thorson > wrote in
:

> As per Sheldon's recommendation, I bought
> a poppy seed grinder:
>
> http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=158486
>
> Maybe I bought the only one! They're out of stock now.
>
> I asked for something like a meat grinder, but more fine grain.
> That's sort of like the effect this machine achieves, but the
> mechanism isn't quite like a meat grinder. It's more like
> a minature grain grinder, surrounded by a collar so all the
> ground stuff goes in one direction. The material is forced
> by a screw feed between conical grinding burrs.

The grinder you bought looks exactly like the Porkert Poppyseed Grinder I
boughbt several years ago. Mine is made exactly the same way.

> Running dried apricots through it, it produces a nice
> paste, less grainy than my meat grinder. Closer to
> being mashed. Running almonds through it produces
> a powder. It seems that this machine was designed
> to avoid expressing oil from any seeds it ingests.

Yes, it is specifically designed to minimize oil expression. It was also
specifically designed for grinding poppyseed, but I imagine a "dry" nut
like almonds would work rather well.

> It's easy to clean. My main complaint is that it is
> contaminating the food with some gray stuff,
> probably iron from the exposed iron surfaces.
> I've run most of a pound of dried apricots through
> it, and the contamination is still present though
> it is much reduced. I'm hoping it'll go away
> completely with enough use.

This is typical of tinned cast iron, especially when it is new. The
apricots, being sticky and containing sugar, acid, and moisture, would
clearly exacerbate this problem. Grinding apricots is contrary to the
purpose of this grinder, although I doubt the grinder will suffer from
it.

It's important to wash the grinder in hot soapy water and dry thoroughly.
I usually put mine in a 150 degree oven for 20-30 minutes after cleaning.

It would probably be a good idea to lightly grease or oil the interior of
the grinder before grinding anything other than seeds or nuts.

> The texture it produces is unique. Even if I don't
> use it much, it will be valuable to have this capability
> available to supplement the range covered by the
> meat grinder.
>
> I'll have to try running some poppy seeds through it.
> Here's some interesting recipes:

Yes, you really should, since that's it's designed purpose.

I don't use mine very often, but I do grind several pounds of poppyseeds
around Christmas and Easter, primarily for use in poppyseed rolls.

--
Wayne in Phoenix

*If there's a nit to pick, some nitwit will pick it.
*A mind is a terrible thing to lose.