Fox Run Large Marble Mortar and Pestle

I love that this comes from a local hardware store in Ohio (Lehman's). I use it for making large batches of Thai chili paste and it works well for this. It is enormously sturdy and solid, and it looks beautiful too.

The order arrived on time. This item is heavy, and although the box was a little out of shape (from the weight and handling by my guess), the mortar and pestle is in excellent condition!

Merry meet! Absolutely amazing product. Not sure why it shows a smaller version in the picture, but I was looking for a large one so I looked closely at the specs (which a lot of the people giving bad reviews probably did not do lol) boy let me tell you I ground up everything. Pepper corns, allspice, pesto, made a great holiday blend for the season. It really is beautiful. I leave in on my counter with my other art pieces. I plan to use it a LOT.

If you are needing a very large mortar and pestle - this is the one to get. It is very large and quite heavy but certainly able to get the job done. I used it to crush fresh rose petals as my smaller bowls would not be able to hold more than a few petals. This one did the trick quite nicely and I can see future uses for many other things! Since some items being ground in a white marble bowl can stain the inside, I have a little tip for anyone who may read this - grind some uncooked rice in the bowl. It will remove any little bits stuck in the unfinished/rough areas and will naturally leave the bowl with a nice bleached look. Just rinse when you are done and it sparkles like new!

wife wanted one for a while

I was looking forward to a large marble mortar and pestle for making pesto and the fox run version seemed to fit the bill. Was terribly disappointed with the product received. The pestle arrived broken with half of it still wrapped in bubble wrap and the other half unwrapped and loose in the box. On close inspection of the bowl of the mortar I found fracture lines along all the black veins that run through the marble. These are gouges in the marble that you can see and feel as sharp fractures. This item is of inferior quality and I do not expect it to hold up to use over the long term. Additionally the surface of the mortar is largely polished aside for the fracture lines. This is not appropriate for a grinding surface. It should also be noted that the major benefit to a marble mortar and pestle is that it is more efficient at emulsification than granite, and may have advantages in grinding tender items such as basil leaves, but these strengths generally rely on a wooden, typically olive, pestle. So not only is the a poorly crafted item, it also suffers from inferior design. But it is not sold at a discount price. I highly recommend selecting a better mortar and pestle set. I will be returning this one as it was DOA.

Out of the box this mortar and pestle is beautiful! But, the inside of the mortar is not useful because it is not finished on the inside! The inside is completely polished and has the rings from where they bored out the bowl. There is absolutely no toothe at all for grinding. This smooth finish with rings caused whatever you put into this device to slip and slide around in the bowl. I attached photos of the two mortar and pestles I purchase on amazon. The Fox Run 8" and the Chef'n marble 5". The second one I purchased, came beautifully finished with great toothe and it has a silicone base to hold it firmly while grinding. It is smaller, so I can't make a large batch of Pesto. However, I did take some sandpaper to the Fox Run 8" Mortar and it did smooth out the ridges inside and took away the polished surface inside and it also added a little toothe. I used 60 grain sandpaper, which is really rough and it still didn't have enough toothe inside the bowl. I am probably going to take it to my local stone countertop store and see if they can rough it up a little more. I love the size and the beauty of the Mortar and Pestle and that is why I am willing to take the extra measures to make it the way I need it to become more useful. By the way, until it is sanded to create toothe, you will probably never be able to grind rice in this unit. It will just swish around in the bowl and pop out and it will also get caught in the ridges. If you have some really rough sandpaper, it doesn't take long to remove the ridges and add some tooth to it and you will be really happy you took the time!

You'll need to spend some time sanding or grinding down the rough inside so it doesn't tear up your pestles. If you just want to crush nuts, it's fine as is, but about 10% of your pesto will be wood or marble if you don't smooth it a bit.

The price of this is absolutely a steal. It's large and exactly what I needed for homemade guac. I used 4 avocados and there was still plenty of room for more if needed. It also looks beautiful sitting out on the counter when not in use. Get this.

I had a small version of this mortar & pestle, so I decided to order the large as well. I quite like the unfinished inside, making spices not slide around as much. The shape is also quite nice. I was VERY disappointed that the bottom of the piece seemed to have had a huge chunk of it filled with a filler (pics 1 and 2). I can understand that sometimes marble pieces can have imperfections, but as a manufacturer, if you're going to hide that imperfection using a filler, at least do a better job of it. The hole wasn't filled very well. It still had some sharp corners and it was not sanded smooth at all, so the base ended up sitting uneven on the counter and scratching my counter.This was not Amazon's fault at all. It is the manufacturer attempting to hide a defect in the marble piece and not very well. It is being sent back and I've requested a replacement piece. I will adjust my review once the replacement arrives.The replacement product arrived last week and I'm sending that one back as well. Very poor quality control on this product. This time the inside of the bowl has huge scratches on it, appearing to be from when the bowl was carved out (see the last 2 pics). When you rub your hands on it, shards of marble come off on your hands. I would hate to think that's going into my food. Very disappointed. I'll have to source this product elsewhere. I had sent the 1st shipment back (pics 1 & 2) and it appears that this product has gone back into inventory when I don't think it should've because as of a day or two ago, this product was on back order for the next month or two and today, there is 1 in stock and I bet that's the 1st shipment I sent back (pics 1 and 2). For $65, I expected better quality.

Very heavy bowl and found it very study and easy to use. Put several felt pads under the bowl to prevent scratching the counter top. Would recommend this product to other potential customers.

Very nice, and large enough to fill with limes and set out on the table. All intact, no cracks or chips. I'd buy it again.

It is very heavy, solid and worth the money