A few weeks ago, I got the opportunity to test the FinaMill.
I didn’t know if I needed it or not. I mean, all it does is grind stuff like pepper, and before I had this device, it took a few twists and turns to do that on my own with my rainbow peppercorn from Trader Joes.
I thought hard about what model I wanted, whether it was the battery powered one or the rechargeable one, along with what color I wanted, then I made my request for the product to review.
FinaMill Classic Rechargeable Mill
Opening the Box and Finding Out What Was Inside
When the sample finally arrived, I opened the box and was pretty happy with what was in it: I saw a beautiful yellow device that had two attachment pods that I could put on it, along with a USB to USB-C charger. One pod was specifically for peppercorns. The other was for anything else that was dry that could be ground up.
Setting up the FinaMill
In order to set up the FinaMill, you have to open up a pod by twisting it, pour in some peppercorns or something else, then close it back up. After you do that, you put the pod into the area where it fits into the FinaMill and then twist this gear a few times, then it snaps in.
Once that is all completed, push the button on top and it starts grinding away. It’s probably one of the most intuitive products I’ve tried. I’m kind of slow at following directions and I don’t really look at manuals, so I’m glad this was idiot proof for people like me.
At First I Wasn’t Impressed, But I Wasn’t Going Back to the Manual Grind
The first thing I did was open up my rainbow peppercorns then put them into the pod. Once they were in, I tested the device out on my prime short rib I bought from the Korean market. It did the job quite well and since the device charges by USB-C (there is a battery powered one too), I could just set it down afterwards and everything was done.
That was all I thought of the device, and I was going to say “cool” and be done with it.
This is a device that you could use to grind peppercorns and while I could’ve done that on my own, the device would be quite costly, not a necessity and something that is replacing a task that isn’t too hard to begin with.
That said, my initial thought was that, while the device wasn’t anything spectacular, I would never go back to grinding my peppercorns by hand anymore.
One Conversation Unlocked a Whole New Vista for My Electric Grinder
When I emailed the representative for the brand and told them about what I tested, he told me I could grind up other things with it too. He sent me a list of various things you could use in it, so I immediately went to my fridge and put some toasted sesame seeds, along with black sesame seeds in it.
At that point in the morning, I was too exhausted to cook, so I put the ground seeds on a breakfast burrito mixed with mustard. (Yes, it’s weird, I know. I don’t know if I would recommend eating that, but this was all for science!)
The FinaMill ground up the sesame seeds immaculately and I was sooooo excited! I would’ve taken a picture, but I don’t think anyone wants to see a breakfast burrito with mustard and sesame seeds on it. I know I personally don’t.
Other Things the FinaMill Can Grind Up
According to the material provided by FinaMill, there are different types of pods, and various things that the FinaMill can grind up as well.
Types of Pods and What You Can Grind with Them.
- Everyday and oily spices: Cacao nibs, cardamom seeds, celery seeds, chipotle sea salt, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, dill seeds, dried garlic (minced), dried ginger (minced), dried lavender, dried onion (minced), fennel seeds, Hawaiian sea salt, hemp seeds, Himalayan pink salt, Montreal seasoning, mustard seeds, peppercorns, sea salt, sesame seeds, Spanish rosemary, sea salt, sunflower seeds, tellicherry, peppercorns.
- The Max Pod, for large spices and dried herbs: Allspice, black cumin seeds, caraway seeds, dried chili flakes, dried lemon peel (minced), dried orange peel (minced), juniper berries. Dried Herbs: Basil, cilantro, celery flakes, dill weed, Herbes de Provence, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme. Other: Coffee beans.)
- GT, for hard spices and nuts: Cardamon pods, cassia, cinnamon, cloves, dried whole chili, nutmeg, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, star anise [You can grind these? Wow!], tonka beans. Nuts: Almond [oh wow you can grind up nuts? That’s cool. I’ll want to get that pod to grind up some almonds later!], Brazil nuts, cashew nuts, hazelnut, peanuts, pistachio, and other hard nuts. Other: Dried coconut (flaked), dried shiitake mushroom, dried rose petals, hard chocolate (dark, milk, white).
- Peppercorn for premium peppercorn grinding: Black peppercorn, green peppercorn, peppercorn blend, tellicherry, peppercorn, white peppercorn.
Some Hopeful Aspirations that Will Hopefully Soon Become a Reality
On the sheet of things you could grind the FinaMill with, I saw that some of the items were toasted garlic and toasted ginger. That got me really excited, so I asked if I could use raw ginger and garlic in the machine. The representative said no (sadly), it would get stuck in the machine and they are working on creating a pod in the future that can handle those ingredients.
Let Your Imagination Run Wild with What You Can Put into This Mill and Grinder
What I really think would be neat would be to mix sesame seeds, toasted ginger, toasted garlic and a bunch of other ingredients into a pod together. That would make it extremely possible to make an Asian inspired rub for basically any dish, or even create more of these pods with a mix of ingredients.
One of the things I found to be time consuming when cooking is to take the time to put four or five different ingredients onto a steak. If you could combine all the ingredients together into one pod that does all the work for you, that would just be — for lack of a better word — phenomenal.
How a Mill Grinder Like the FinaMill Could Uncover Additional Health Benefits Inside Your Food
The other day, I was on Instagram and an influencer by the name of Michael Tchao, who happens to cook to optimize health and flavor, was talking about the history behind why Japanese people use sesame seed mills. He explained that while when you can digest a sesame seed whole, it typically prevents the body from absorbing all of the calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, healthy fats and antioxidents within them. However, when you grind them in a mill, you are able to release those essential nutrients from the seeds into your body. What’s more, 50 percent of the sesame seed’s weight is oil, and by milling a sesame seed, you are able to release all of those oils and rich aromas as well (something I’ve loved ever since I discovered Wako Donkatsu, a restaurant in Los Angeles that gives you a mortar and pestle to grind up your sesame seeds before they pour a sauce into it.
The smell of ground or crushed sesame seeds have such a fresh aroma to them. I love it.
Anyway, if you are looking at a mill for peppercorns, you probably don’t really need something like this. But if you want something where you could really get versatile with your ingredients, or unlock the rich nutrients in seeds like sesames, you will definitely want to give this a try.
Pros
- Comes in different colors.
- Really pretty.
- Super easy to use and set up.
- Grinds seeds and other things that have nutrients locked within them.
- Makes crushing peppercorns easier I guess.
- Is able to grind many spices and seeds.
- Feels pretty luxurious.
- Really easy to charge.
Cons
- Kind of expensive ($89.99).
- Not worth it if you're going to just use it to crush peppercorns.
- Unable to grind raw garlic or ginger (but they are working towards making this work).
- More of a luxury item as opposed to a necessity.
- You can't use it while you're charging it because the plug to the charger is where the pod goes.
Want to Buy a FinaMill?
They come in two options, the battery powered one or the rechargeable one that I reviewed here. You can buy it on their website here:
FinaMill Classic Rechargeable Mill
In My Expert Opinion
Is the FinaMill Rechargeable mill grinder worth it?
Are you a casual cooker and you just want to grind peppercorns? No, It’s not worth it at all. Just buy them at Trader Joes and twist the cap. It’s really easy.
If you love being in the kitchen and bringing out the flavors of your dishes, and want to mix different spices or rubs together so you can speed up your cooking process, or want to have multiple pods so you can quickly do various things in the kitchen (or just want to release those fine nutrients and aromas within sesame seeds), then absolutely, yes, it is 100 percent worth it!
