A few months ago MexGrocer.com had a huge blow out sale and so I bought a real lava rock molcajete. It was kind of hard to find a real one even in New York. Many of the ones I found in Jackson Heights and Corona were decorative serving dishes made out of cement, not lava rock. It took me at least three months to season the one I bought online! I read on The Mija Chronicles that you should do a few turns of dry beans, then dry corn, dry rice, wet rice, and finally the spices. The many rounds help get rid of gritty pieces that might get mixed into your food. Today I finally got to the spices round!

I ground some garlic, dried epazote, ancho chiles, and salt. The resulting paste was very fragrant and tasty!