One of my fondest memories as a child were the times I spent in the kitchen with my mother. My job, when she was cooking, was to pile lay lan (crush the garlic) using a pilon ak manch pilon (mortar and pestle). Picture me, 7 or 8 years old sitting in the middle of the kitchen on her small wicker and wooden chair with the small pilon on the floor in front of me. I would hulk smash that garlic like it’s name was Loki (don’t mind me, I’ve been on a Marvel marathon lately lol). So there was a technique to crushing garlic cloves in a pilon, I would put the peeled garlic into it then place my hand over the top and leave a hole between my thumb and pointer finger and use the handle to constantly mash until I was left with crushed garlic. Sometimes the garlic would go flying out of the opening after attempting to mash it that first time, would have to have quick hands to catch it LOL. I can’t remember the last time I crushed garlic in a pilon, it has been ages. I don’t think that my mom uses it anymore either since she has a garlic press. Nowadays the pilon in our household is pretty much for decoration like the beautiful ones I have pictured above. In my opinion, I feel like all of the liquid released from the garlic clove is absorbed into the wood of the pilon and that is counterproductive to me. On my cooking journey, I have never used a pilon to crush my garlic; either I use a garlic press or I finely chop it on a plastic cutting board. Do you guys still make epis (Haitian green seasoning) by crushing your garlic, scallion, etc using a pilon… Let’s chat!