A variety of Indian cooking herbs and spices are used in cuisines from all over the world. Of these the most important are dried and ground often into a powder or paste. A mortar and pestle is a traditional instrument used in grinding and crushing. It consists of a bowl (the mortar) set into a base (the pedestal) with a vertical pestle that fits inside the mortar to be worked against its sides. The pestle is typically made of stone or hard wood; the pedestal may be ceramic or wood.