"Will it grind?" We're sometimes asked if our grain mills will grind things other than grains and beans. Among other things, we're asked about herbs, spices, oilseeds, nuts, and various parts of woody plants, including roots. Recently when we were asked for a mill to grind the toenails of snapping turtles (no kidding) we decided it was time for some explanation.
We sell different types of home mills...
Steel Burr Mills: The Wonder Junior mill is a rugged and popular steel burr mill that also comes with stone burrs for exceptional versatility. The Family Grain Mill is also known for its versatility, being able to grind small quantities of herbs and spices in addition to its primary role as a grain flour grinder. It doesn't grind quite as finely as quality stone burr mills or "impact" type mills, but most of our Family Grain Mill customers find the fineness of its grind entirely satisfactory, and it also has the ability to grind many herbs, spices and seeds. . All of our steel burr mills disassemble in just seconds, so if grinding an oilseed like flax or sesame does gum up the works a bit, cleanout is quick and easy.
Impact Mills: Impact mills (the NutriMill Classic, NutriMill Plus and WonderMill) are made to grind only dry grain and dry, non-oily beans. They grind very quickly and have the ability to grind very fine, but impact mills are completely unsuitable for herbs, spices, oilseeds, flax or fibrous materials. In fact, grinding such materials will very quickly ruin an impact mill, and such damage is not covered by warranty. The warranties of all of the impact mills cover the use of dry grains and dry beans, with which it's nearly impossible to wear one out.
Stone Burr Mills: Stone burr mills are made to grind only dry grain and dry, non-oily beans. They grind very quickly and have the ability to grind very fine, but stone burr mills are unsuitable for herbs, spices, oilseeds, flax or fibrous materials.
And for Nuts...
Most grain mills can’t make nut butters, but these two will...
- The Wonder Junior Deluxe grain mill comes standard with both stone and stainless steel burrs, and the steel burrs will grind peanuts for peanut butter.
- An accessory available for the Country Living grain mill enables it to grind peanuts for peanut butter.
Nut Butter Machine Links
Bosch Universal machine and accessory food processor
And if you're really serious about grinding materials that grain mills cannot grind:
will pulverize a much wider range of materials than a burr mill can handle. For quality industrial/commercial hammer mills, .
