Coffee Bean or Spice Roaster
Display: Liquid Refreshments
Culinary Technique: roasting
Date: c. 1900
Dimensions: 8" h x 17" w x 8" d
Watch collection donor Mel Mickevic demonstrate this object with
Dean Christopher
Koetke, School of Culinary Arts, Kendall College,
and Victoria Matranga, exhibition curator.
This cast-iron roaster could have been used in a hearth standing on its four legs in hot embers, or suspended by its collar in the eight-inch burner hole of a cookstove. The round cap swung open to accept coffee beans or spices. The hand crank turned two blades inside—one narrow blade agitated the contents to keep them from burning, and a wider, curved blade scraped the rounded floor of the container. A pin on its underside released the bowl from the collar for emptying or cleaning.