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Learn How to Season a Molcajete just like they do in Mexico. This tutorial will walk you through all the steps to wash your new molcajete before the first use so you can start making authentic salsas in lava rock just like the natives.
Megganโs notes
For Mexican cuisine enthusiasts, a molcajete can be an exciting, but perhaps overwhelming, acquisition. As a classically-trained chef with a born-and-raised Mexican husband (Moises is from Aguascalientes), I am well-versed in the art and science of cleaning, seasoning, and preparing your molcajete for its first use and beyond.
Made with vesticular basalt, or porous lava rock, true molcajetes are heavy to carry but a joy to use. Grinding vegetables, pastes, and sauces by hand connects you to the food in the same way that baking bread does. Itโs rewarding to create with your hands and through your own labor.
Iโll walk you through, step-by-step and in grave detail, the process of washing, soaking, and grinding both rice and salt into your lava rock molcajete. Itโs a labor of love, but itโs also a one-time deal. Go through the process once, and youโll never have to do it again.
What makes a molcajete so special is the porous surface that over time, soaks up salsas and spices to infuse your future creations with hints of flavor, history, and love. Iโm so excited to show you how to get started.
Table of Contents
What You Need to Season a Molcajete
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Equipment and Ingredient Notes
- Molcajeteย and tejolote (mortar and pestle): This tutorial is for a vesicular basalt molcajete which looks like a porous lava rock with holes inside. Molcajetes are filled with gravel, dust, and dirt and must be seasoned (cleaned) before their first use.
- Escobetaย (root brush): Made from natural zacatรณn root over a beech wood handle, this is the brush favored in Mexico to clean a molcajete. The sturdy bristles grind rice and salt while scraping out the tiniest pieces of debris from porous lava rock.
- Dish soapย and water: Some users warn that soap will be absorbed into the porous basalt and flavor future salsas with soapy flavor. This has never happened to me, but I scrub the soap, rinse thoroughly, and move on to the next step. If you let your molcajete sit and soak in the soap, itโs possible that could happen. Iโm not sure.
- Rice: Regular long-grain white rice. Grind it repeatedly into the molcajete through stages of gray and finally white powder. You also soak white rice in water and grind it to a paste for further deep cleaning.
- Salt: Common table salt provides a further level of grit to infiltrate the pores of the molcajete and season the grinding surface.
How to Season a Molcajete
- Line your kitchen sink with a dish towel to prevent scratches. Set the molcajete, pestle, and root brush in the sink.
- Under running water, clean the pieces with soap and water. When the root brush is clean, use it with the soap and water the scrub the molcajete and tejolote vigorously.
- The soapy foam will be gray. Rinse the the pieces and repeat until there is no more gray foam.
- Set the molcajete upside down in the bottom of the kitchen sink (so the feet are pointing up). Fill the sink with water so the molcajete is completely submerged, and add the pestle to the water, too. Be sure to remove the trapped air bubble on the curved underside of the molcajete.
- Leave the pieces submerged in the water for 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the water and check the kitchen towel for any volcanic debris that may have been loosened while submerged. Rinse the molcajete and pestle.
- Add 3 tablespoons of dry white rice to the bottom of the molcajete.
- Using the pestle, grind the rice on the bottom and all sides of the molcajete in a circular motion. This is tough work! The rice will be gray which means you are doing well.
- Discard the ground rice and dust out the molcajete with the root brush. Add 3 more tablespoons of rice and continue grinding. Continue this process until the rice powder is white, not gray.
- Add 3 tablespoons of salt to the bottom of the molcajete.
- Grind it on the bottom and all sides of the molcajete with the pestle. The first round may be gray.
- Discard the salt, brush out the molcajete, and add 3 more tablespoons salt. Repeat this process until the salt is pure white.
- Add 3 tablespoons of rice to the bottom of the molcajete and add water to cover.
- Let the rice soak for 20 minutes until softened. Grind the rice into the bottom and sides of the molcajete until it looks like rice water. Rinse and repeat until there is no gray dust.
- Rinse thoroughly in water (no soap) and let air dry completely.
Tutorial tips and variations
- Garlic: Some cooks add a 2 to 3 cloves of raw garlic to their Molcajete, grind to a paste, and rinse out. This adds to the โseasoningโ element and will infuse future salsas with garlic flavor.
- Herbs and spices: You can also grind in fresh cilantro or cumin seeds into your molcajete.
- Chiles: Grind a few fresh or dried chiles, such as serranos or chiles de arbol, into the molcajete.
- Dried beans: Some users grind dried beans before they move on to the dried rice.
- Traveling with a molcajete: Nobody asked me this, but I can speak from personal experience. If you buy a molcajete in Mexico, you must stow it in your carry-on luggage. You will not be allowed to carry it on the plane in the cabin, and it will be confiscated at security. Always pack your molcajete souvenir in your checked baggage.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Inconsistencies in shape: Your molcajete and telojote should not be uniform all the way around. Molcajetes are carved by hand and have small imperfections in their shape and design. A molcajete that is uniform was probably made on a machine.
2. Uneven surface: Lava rock naturally has a rough, uneven surface, while concrete and granite molcajetes naturally have a smoother surface.
3. Marks from hand tools: Chips, holes, and chisel marks are are signs that the rock was carved by hand.
3. Weight: A basalt molcajete weighs more than a concrete molcajete.
4. Water absorption: Add 1 cup water to your molcajete and see what happens. A concrete (fake) molcajete will absorb the water almost immediately, while a lava rock molcajete will retain the water for a few minutes because itโs more dense than concrete.
5. Scratch test: Lava rock is more resistant to scratches than concrete. If it is possible to scratch your molcajete in a discrete place without damaging it, you can do that and see if dust or powder comes off easily (it will with concrete).
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How to Season a Molcajete
Ingredientsย
- Dish soap and water
- 3/4 cup long-grain white rice divided, plus more as needed
- 1/2 cup Salt divided, plus more as needed
Instructionsย
- Line your kitchen sink with a dish towel to prevent scratches. Set the molcajete, pestle, and root brush in the sink.
- Under running water, clean the pieces with soap and water. When the root brush is clean, use it with the soap and water the scrub the molcajete and tejolote vigorously.
- The soapy foam will be gray. Rinse the the pieces and repeat until there is no more gray foam.
- Set the molcajete upside down in the bottom of the kitchen sink (so the feet are pointing up). Fill the sink with water so the molcajete is completely submerged, and add the pestle to the water, too. Be sure to remove the trapped air bubble on the curved underside of the molcajete.
- Leave the pieces submerged in the water for 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the water and check the kitchen towel for any volcanic debris that may have been loosened while submerged. Rinse the molcajete and pestle.
- Add 3 tablespoons of dry white rice to the bottom of the molcajete. Using the pestle, grind the rice on the bottom and all sides of the molcajete in a circular motion. This is tough work! The rice will be gray which means you are doing well.
- Discard the ground rice and dust out the molcajete with the root brush. Add 3 more tablespoons of rice, and continue grinding. Continue this process until the rice powder is white, not gray.
- Add 3 tablespoons of salt to the bottom of the molcajete and grind it on the bottom and all sides of the molcajete with the pestle. The first round may be gray. Discard the salt, brush out the molcajete, and add 3 more tablespoons salt. Repeat this process until the salt is pure white.
- Add 3 tablespoons of rice to the bottom of the molcajete and add water to cover. Let the rice soak for 20 minutes until softened. Grind the rice into the bottom and sides of the molcajete until it looks like rice water. Rinse and repeat until there is no gray dust.
- Rinse thoroughly in water (no soap) and let air dry completely.
Notes
- Molcajeteย and tejolote (mortar and pestle): This tutorial is for a porous, lava rock molcajete. They are filled with gravel, dust, and dirt and must be seasoned (cleaned) before their first use.
- Escobetaย (root brush): Made from natural zacatรณn root over a beech wood handle, this is the brush favored in Mexico to clean a molcajete. The sturdy bristles grind rice and salt while scraping out the tiniest pieces of debris from porous lava rock.
- Dish soapย and water: Some users warn that soap will be absorbed into the porous basalt and flavor future salsas with soapy flavor. This has never happened to me, but I scrub the soap, rinse thoroughly, and move on to the next step. If you let your molcajete sit and soak in the soap, itโs possible that could happen. Iโm not sure.
- Rice: Regular long-grain white rice. Grind it repeatedly into the molcajete through stages of gray and finally white powder. You also soak white rice in water and grind it to a paste for further deep cleaning.
- Salt: Common table salt provides a further level of grit to infiltrate the pores of the molcajete.