How can I reuse or recycle an hand coffee mill/grinder?
We’ve had an email from good friend of Recycle This Petra:
When cleaning some cupboards, I found an old hand coffee mill. I never use it for coffee beans, but could you think of another purpose for this mill. Something to grind for kitchen use? Or something totally different?
All ideas are welcome.
My ex had a very basic hand grinder for coffee and it took *forever* to grind enough beans for a single cup of coffee so if it’s anything like that one, I wouldn’t advocate using it to grind any large quantities of things or anything that needs to be very fine. I suspect more modern/expensive grinders are more efficient though and probably give more control over the final ground size – I’ve never tried it but could they be used for making rice flour or chickpea (gram) flour?
(If you’re not going to make use of it, the usual “pass it on” rule & routes apply: someone might want it for grinding coffee. I regularly see this type of thing on the “household” shelves of local charity/thrift shops or at car boot sales etc – they’re often sold without original packaging/instructions as long as they’re in good, clean condition.)
Any other suggestions for things to grind in it aside from coffee? Or other reuses/recycling ideas?
We use our coffee grinder for grinding spices (which have been roasted in a heavy bottomed pan) to make our own spice mixes for curries etc. – best to have a dedicated grinder for doing this!
I purchased exactly the same one for grinding my husbands coffee beans and the other I use for grinding dry herbs / coriander seeds etc :) You could probably also use it to grind salt crystals.
Use it for black pepper.
I’d love to have one for grinding coffee the old-fashioned way.
flax seeds?
Grind egg shells. When powdered, they are good for fertilizing plants.