A mortar and pestle are a classic piece of kitchen equipment. The mortar is a bowl that holds the item to be ground, while the pestle crushes the object and grinds it. If you don’t have this, other common kitchen tools can serve as a stand-in. Rolling pin: chop the herbs or spices into small pieces, then crush them with the rolling pin. Blender: this will grind up spices and other ingredients and form them into a small powder. Unfortunately, you will need a larger quantity of spices for this to work, since the herbs or spices will need to completely cover the blades. Spice grinder: this will grind up the herbs or spices into powder for convenient cooking.