Yeah I know, sounds nuts.  I don’t know where I picked it up but it does work.  This trick is intended for the blade-type grinders.  I also just did this so I know it works great.  So, you simply put a scant 1/4 of dry rice (use cheap rice, not your exotic jasmine rice) in the grinder and grinder away.  The dry rice scours the grinding area and picks up stray coffee too.  You wouldn’t believe how shiny and clean my grinder is right now.  I dump the remnants into the compost pail (the rice is now basically seed meal) and wipe out the grinding area and lid (which doesn’t get all that clean) with a paper towel or cloth.

 

This cleaning trick works great if you have to use your grinder to grind spices.  You keep the coffee out of the spice and the spice out of your coffee.  It also is good to do once and a while to get old rancid gunk out as well.

 

Give it a shot!