Revel CCM104CH Wet N Dry Grinder

very good little grinder, this is my second as my previous lasted me for 10 years or so

Do not buy this grinder. It was bought to replace same model which had worked well for more than a decade. Supposedly 'new and improved' design, but had the same difficulty removing lid as other reviewers, although managed to use it. Then, after seven months, it just stopped working entirely - motor is now not starting when pressing down. Very disappointing.

Forget those ready-made spice mixes, curry sauces or Italian pestos. With this neat little grinder you can make your own in minutes. Nothing compares with the aroma and flavour of freshly ground herbs and spices and the taste - well it is on a different level. If you are a coffee hound, then buy your roasted beans, keep them in the freezer, then use the Revel to grind up just enough for a really fresh-ground cup of expresso. The Revel can handle either dry spices or wet items such as fresh ginger, garlic or onions with ease. It doesn't have a large capacity, but that is not a problem. It is so fast that you can reduce a large onion to fine pulp in very short order. It is best operated in short bursts - in fact the instructions recommend no more than five seconds at a time. It is simple to use and easy to clean. It takes up very little space, and it looks smart with its chrome finish. This is a must-have kitchen tool for anyone who is serious about home cooking. It does the jobs that a larger blender can't tackle and its sheer convenience will ensure that it won't gather dust in the back of the cupboard. This is one bit of kitchen kit that you won't see at a car boot, so get yourself a shiny new one from Amazon.

Very impressed with this - it certainly takes a lot of effort out of making up pastes etc. I was a bit wary of other users comments on this site but if you're careful to only use the grinder for 5 second bursts and allow 5 seconds to rest between bursts (as recommended by Revel) then I'm sure the grinder will last the distance. To test, I filled the bowl with cashew nuts and with 5 seconds of grinding they were almost entirely reduced to powder. Although there were still a few chunks left, another quick blitz and they were gone. This would have taken several minutes hard labour even with my massive granite mortar and pestel. The next test was a bit more severe. I had dry fried about 100g of desicated coconut, 12 garlic cloves, cinnamon bark, cloves, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, 4 dried thai chilies and a whole chopped onion. All together, this lot practically filled a 12" frying pan. The grinder bowl is on the small side so grinding the above mixture had to be done in many batches. It took 3-4 5 second bursts to grind each batch down to a fairly fine paste. Between bursts, I found that lifting the bowl and hood off the unit and giving it a good shake was required as the mixture of dry and wet ingredients stuck to the sides of the bowl. Maybe grinding wet and dry ingredients seperately would be better. I did consider adding a bit of water to each batch, but didn't want to make my paste too wet. The end result was quite a fine paste which when used in a curry was still a little bit "bitty" but on the whole a lot smoother than previous attempts. If I was designing version 2 of this product, I'd make the bowl a good inch wider and higher to accomodate more ingredients in one go.

Good for the value

I bought this grinder 2 weeks ago and am very pleased with it. It grinds all my spices to a fine paste and is perfect for Indian curries.The only bad point is that its way to delicate being made entirely of plastic n all. Also the bowl is small but enough to grind bout 12 red chillies and a few other ingredients.If grinding wet ingrdients it leaks sometimes from the top making a mess. A little expensive for what u get too. But if used carefully in short bursts and not overfull its just right for my curry needs.

I bought this item looking for something simple to make spice mixes. Within the first hour of use you realize that this grinder performs far better than anything listed either on the website or in the accompanying guide book. If it fits in the cup, it will turn into a fine powder or paste within seconds. Fresh garlic, ginger, coriander and cumin seeds for example are handled so quickly and cleanly that it's a joy to use. If you're making curry pastes be careful how much water you add. If you add too much the grinder will start to leak, and while this really won't damage the grinder it may be a little messy. Add water in small amounts and you'll never have to worry about it. The versatility of this device is still something I haven't found the limits of. Recently I needed to juice some grapes, threw them into the grinder for a few seconds and was left with the juice separated perfectly from the pulp. I've had it for about two months, used it almost every day and it's already paid for itself.

I had one of these for years but unfortunately dropped the cover and the lid broke. I ordered another and was unable to detach the cover from the grinder bowl. Thinking this was a faulty appliance Amazon swiftly replaced it with another and I had the same problem. This has to be a design fault with the ‘ new and improved’ version.