Meaning
The wooden pounding bowl, used with a 'pestle', that is a fixture of the traditional Jamaican kitchen. In it you pound roasted coffee, spices, garlic, roast breadfruit, or boiled ground provisions to make 'turn cornmeal', mashed food, and seasonings. Carved from a solid block of hardwood, a good mortar is handed down for generations.
Examples
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Pound di garlic an pepper inna di mortar.
Pound the garlic and pepper in the mortar.
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Granny mortar older dan mi.
Grandma's mortar is older than me.
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Beat di coffee inna di mortar wid di pestle.
Pound the coffee in the mortar with the pestle.
Origin
From English 'mortar' (a pounding vessel); the wooden mortar-and-pestle is a staple of Jamaican and West African kitchens.
How it’s used
The wooden pounding bowl (with pestle) for spices, coffee, and provisions. See [[pestle]], [[dutchie]].