How to clean smell from granite mortar and pestle I recently grinding some chilies with ginger in my granite mortar and pestle, and after cleaning it still has a bit of gingery smell (and maybe a bit of color too?). I washed it with warm water, let it dry, and then grinded some white rice in it as well.

Is it okay that it still smells a bit like ginger? If not, what should I do to remove it?

Thanks!
Should be fine, in fact some people argue that a pestle and mortar is suppose to have remnants of past spices and that it adds to variety and such. 

If you're really concerned of the taste, smell or if you ground nuts (allergies), etc. or just don't want the smell/taste then soak it for a long period of time, then rewash it and repeat till it fades.