Norpro Nutmeg Grinder

This item is essential for everyday use; I love how easy and convenient it is to use.

Pretty cool. I like the flying saucer look. It works really well. The only thing is that the first time getting the cover off was difficult. There are two or three locking lugs. It only needs a little counter-clockwise twist, but initially it is so tight I had to use a couple of channel lock pliers. After that, it is easy. I'm going to do potatoes au gratin and use it for the custard. I also like to use Bechamel in my Lasagna, so - woohoo!

First, let me explain what this item is, because I didn't really understand it until I got it. It is NOT like a pepper mill, where you fill up the outside and it feeds into the grinder and out the bottom. The box explains that the interior of the grinder can be used to store the spices, but they don't feed the grinder. To load the grinder, you have to remove the top, fill a small interior cylinder about 2/3 of the way, then put the top back on. At that point, cranking the handle turns the spices against the sharp slots in the bottom of the grinder, and ground spices fall through the slots. Because the slots are fairly wide, I would say black peppercorns are about the smallest seed you could use with decent results. I bought it to use for grinding allspice, which are about pea-size, and it works great for that. Nutmeg, which are even bigger, would be perfect. Anything soft, like ginger, or small, like rosemary, it just isn't designed for. I bought this, and will keep it, because the regular peppermills I have tried just can't handle allspice - the seeds seem to be just too big to feed well. Now that I have it, I'm going to have to get some whole nutmegs. It would be interesting to try nuts and broken cinnamon sticks, as well. The only issue I see so far is that I've been having a bit of trouble getting the lid seated firmly all the way around, but that may be because I filled the grind tube fairly high, so it's hard to push down firmly and evenly enough to turn the lid so all the plastic tabs catch. If this item fails, I suspect that those plastic tabs on the lid will be the reason.

I received a used product. Remnants of spices on white base and on grinding tool. There is even some sort of hair. Gross. I'm getting it replaced. I'll make a change to this review if I see improvement. 2/12/26 Received replacement the very next day. This one was new, thank goodness. I added a whole nutmeg and ground some into my morning coffee. Perfect. I also used it when I made a bechamel sauce. It's cheap plastic with a metal mechanism inside used with torque to manufacture fresh spice, so I dont believe it'll last too long, but I love fresh nutmeg.

A friend is actually jealous of my nutmeg grinder! Especially after I ground some into her open palm and had her sniff it. The aroma of fresh ground nutmeg is heavenly! I love the grinder and how well it grinds, smoothly and comfortably. I actually prefer it to cinnamon.

I use nutmeg a lot. For baking. Making spaghetti sauces and casseroles. Fondues. I grated it using a microplane and while the results were snowy fine and desirable, the scrapes on my fingers were not. So I purchased this nutmeg grater based on the reviews. The grater holds 5-6 whole nutmegs. You put 1-2 in the center where the action takes place, close the two halves and grind away. The results were outstanding — at first. Comparable to the microplane but without the pain. I was thrilled. I merrily grated away as I cooked my large pots of spaghetti sauce. However, like a relationship with a flawed person, you can’t expect it to last. When the flaws are discovered, it’s all you can do to fix the relationship. Not gonna happen. For example, closing it (within a few months) soon became an exercise in sheer strength and will. This is because the nuts in the middle tube are held in place by a spring that is on the hefty gauge side that pushes them into the grating blade. You have to fight pushing the spring down to get the two halves to match then twist them to engage two miniscule pieces that get it to stay closed. It stood up to it but that’s about its only good feature. It’s a PITA to use. The nutmeg in the center needs constant adjustment in order to get it to grate at all, and when one nut starts to get a little flat, it doggedly refuses to grate at all. You need more than one nut in the center for it to grate because the spring in the center only goes down so far to out pressure on the nut. So I found myself constantly adjusting the nuts. But the grater nowo crushes the nutmeg as opposed to grating it, and instead of the nutmeg snow I wanted for my pies, spaghetti sauces and lasagna, I found myself fishing small chunks out of my red sauce and pies. I’m the kind of person whose glass is always half full. I clung to the hope that if I just tried this or adjusted that, it would return to producing snowy piles of nutmeg for my cooking. I gave the thing innumerable chances to get straight and fly right. I tried different positioning of the nuts, different numbers of nuts in the middle and filling in the sides with the remnants of nuts it grated before. No dice. Now it is taking up space in my gadget drawer acting as a holder for my whole nutmeg, which is comical. I take a nut out, grate it on the microplane and put the unused portion back in the grater, fighting to twist it closed. And because it is about 4”x3” with a rotating handle on top, it is taking up a lot of space. Silly. Summary: don’t waste your money. Get a better quality grater or use a microplane. And buy some bandaids.

I debated if I should get this one because it was on the cheaper side, but I am so happy that I did because it works really well. I only use it once or twice a day in my coffee so I’m not sure if you really wanted to grind a lot of nutmeg how well it would work.

I bought this grater to grate nutmeg, and it does not do a good job. The nutmeg Hass to be crushed into pieces before you can even use it in the grinder, and the results after grinding are very coarse. I imagine it might work well for salt. I also found the grater to be very difficult to open. All in all, I cannot recommend this item.