What can you grind in a coffee grinder besides coffee?

In addition to its main purpose - grinding coffee beans, a coffee grinder found in every home is often used to grind other products. In this article, we will tell you what rules should be followed so that the extended use of the device does not radically shorten its service life and, when grinding, the quality characteristics of the crushed products are preserved.
If the design, power and materials from which the device is made allow it to be used for grinding other products, manufacturers usually indicate this in the instructions.
Millstone coffee grinders have the most universal design. This is due to the ability to adjust the degree of grinding. The device can be configured to produce different fractions of the product.
Owners of a rotary (or blade) electric coffee grinder should take into account the power of the device and the quality of its knives. The degree of grinding will have to be adjusted by eye, depending on the period of operation of the device. If you want to get a coarser grind, the product will be crushed unevenly.

What can you grind in a coffee grinder?

The list of permitted items is not so long, but it can also simplify life and save you from purchasing expensive crushers or manual hard labor.

Spices

You can grind almost any spice in a coffee grinder. The general rules for performing crushing include:

• filling the container volume by half or one third of the volume, depending on the hardness of the product or the ability to stick to cutting surfaces:
• It is advisable to heat the spices in a frying pan before grinding. This promotes the release of aromatic oils.

Sugar, cereals

If your baby needs to eat, but you don’t have crushed cereal on hand to quickly prepare porridge, and it’s too far or too late to go to the store, you can grind the cereal or flakes. You can equally well grind oatmeal into flour to make cookies or any cereal to make pancakes. Sugar in a coffee grinder easily turns into powdered sugar for confectionery.

Nuts, seeds

The small volume of the bowl and the power of the device explain the limitation on the amount of processing. But for some products consumed in small quantities, this is quite enough. These include:

• nuts. Recipes for some cakes or cookies include nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts and others) as part of the dough or as decoration. The coffee grinder will cope with the task if you adhere to the requirements stated at the end of the article;
• seeds flax, sesame, mustard, sunflower and others. A coffee grinder will help you take advantage of the ability of freshly ground flaxseed to cleanse your intestines, improve your health, or simply lose weight. In some confectionery recipes, sesame and sunflower seeds require pre-grinding. This can be done in a coffee grinder. With its help, you can prepare mustard or mayonnaise at home by grinding mustard seeds.

Rusks, chocolate

Stale white loaf or bread can easily be turned into high-quality breadcrumbs using a coffee grinder. They will find their use when preparing meat or fish cutlets, cauliflower or green beans.

Using a coffee grinder, you can easily turn chilled chocolate pieces into a fragrant and tasty powder for a cake or apple charlotte.

What not to do, grind

Foods such as dry garlic should not be crushed. This should especially not be done if the device cover is made of plastic (the quality of the plastic can vary greatly). After such procedures, it will be impossible to use the device for its intended purpose for a long time.

Sugar is a conditionally prohibited product for grinding with a coffee grinder. Since the melting point of sugar is low and the density of its crystals is high, grinding should be done in pulse mode. This will help avoid overheating of the device and melting of the product.

Alternative grinding rules

If you decide to use a coffee grinder for alternative purposes, we recommend that you adhere to the following recommendations.

Fill the machine bowl halfway or one-third of the volume depending on the hardness of the product and take into account the tendency of the product being ground to stick together and stick to the cutting surfaces. This quality complicates the operation of the device and can lead to deterioration of its technical condition or breakdown.