Mortar I have been given and use it for all kinds of pastes. My first is prepared paste was a basil pesto. But I had to throw away because a lot of wear originated and the whole pesto was full with small stone crumbs. Disgusting! This incident took place 2 more times and I scrubbed like crazy. And it worked! No abrasion more. All the best. I now have a mortar which, although probably a little "fine-tuning" requires, but a fraction of the cost, which provide comparable performance mortar.
I am very pleased and can recommend him for the purpose to continue.