Hint - Coffee Grinder - Cleaning and Use

By Hklbrries

Hklbrries note: I caution everyone to inspect the blades of your coffee grinder regularly - before and after each use. We used one to grind hard cheese and while eating we found small metal bits in our spaghetti! We put the pieces back together and thankfully all of them were there. I later filed a complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. They told me it wasn't their jurisdiction and referred me (I kid you not!) to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). I sent a letter back stating they were worthless. I was a CONSUMER and I had a PRODUCT with a SAFETY issue. How was it NOT their jurisdiction?!

If there is a next time, I will send the item to the good people at Consumer Reports. Let's be careful out there!

Hklbrries


By now I think most people have an electric coffee grinder in their kitchen. I actually have two in my kitchen - one for grinding coffee, and one for grinding spices (and just about everything else - more on that later). The grinder I use for spices is cleaned after each use to keep flavors from mingling. The grinder I use for coffee doesn't have to be cleaned quite so often, but it definitely needs to be cleaned to prevent the oily residue from going rancid and to keep the blades moving freely. Here's the best way I've found to clean them.

Fill the grinding chamber about 1/2 full with dry rice and whiz away until all the residue is removed (if your grinder hasn't been cleaned for a while, you might have to repeat the process).

Unplug the grinder and discard the dirty rice particles. Use a damp cloth or pastry brush to wipe away any remaining rice dust. That's it - clean and ready to go for the next time.

Other uses:

Grind granulated sugar into superfine sugar
Grind granulated sugar a bit longer to make confectioner's sugar
Grind flaxseed
Grind blanched almonds to make almond meal
Grind citrus zest
Grind grains into flour (wheat, oats, etc)
Grind kosher or flake salt into fine salt (my preference for baking)
Grind dry bread to make breadcrumbs
Grind dried minced garlic into garlic powder (or onion)
Grind dried vanilla beans (mix with sugar to make vanilla sugar)
Grind dried mushrooms (great to add to a pot of soup)
Grind freeze dried shallots (to sprinkle on everything - yum!!)
Grind chocolate
Grind hard cheese (such as Parmesan)
Grind nuts into nut butter
Grind onions, ginger, and garlic into paste

Ingredients

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Details

Adapted from butteryum.blogspot.com

Preparation

Step 1

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