the base is called the mortar and the club-shaped grinder is called the pestle with a mortar and pestle you can grind up whole spices to the size your recipe calls for some spices that you would grind in a mortar and pestle include black cardamom green cardamom cloves celery seed and fennel seed simply place the spices in the mortar then use the pestle to make a crushing grinding motion against the spices as you apply pressure and twist or stir the pestle against the spices they will break apart into smaller pieces the longer you grind the spice the finer it will be visit aqua-blue same kitchen comms for markets