It is recommended when roasting whole spices in Indian cooking to cool them before grinding into a powder. Why do you need to wait for the spices to cool and what happens if you don’t?
asked Oct 25, 2021 at 10:37
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1 Answer
The reason to wait is that warm spices tend to clump when grinding, and the cooling step should help avoid this. I have a bladed coffee grinder that I use as a spice grinder. I rarely wait for toasted spices to cool. Sometimes they do clump in the grinder. I don't find it a problem, and just wipe out the ground, but sometimes stuck spices.
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I didn’t have any clumping when I grinded the spices so I’m good to go? Want to make sure it’s not going to affect the final taste Commented Oct 25, 2021 at 12:15
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2I would say, good to go....I don't worry too much about it....maybe with the exception of grinding a lot at once, where a lot of steam will be generated. But we are talking cups, rather then the small amount for one dish.– moscafjCommented Oct 25, 2021 at 13:15
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2@BigBrownBear00 It depends on how much moisture is in your hard spices. If you have fresh cumin, for example, it will have a reasonable amount of moisture in it and, while still hot, if you grind it, that hot moisture can come out more readily as steam, creating a humid environment in the cool grinder and causing the spices to clump. If your spices aren't clumping when ground hot it could be that they're just a bit stale and have dried out already, or it could be that you roasted them for so long that there's not a lot of moisture left in them.– J...Commented Oct 25, 2021 at 19:59