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Post by phoenix on Aug 16, 2017 9:58:11 GMT
For years we have canned tomato juice by coring, scalding, boiling, and then pressing the pulp through a spaghetti strainer to remove the seeds. Now we are considering buying food mill. Are they worth it? Would it make the process easier?
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Post by northerngardener on Aug 16, 2017 13:06:27 GMT
I don't know what a spaghetti strainer is. Do you mean a colander? I use a Victorio food strainer for making tomato sauce, apple sauce, pear sauce, etc... It looks like this one, but mine is an antique metal one I got from my mom: www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Strainer-Sauce-VICTORIO-VKP250/dp/B001I7FP54?psc=1&SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B001I7FP54It is very good at making sauce. The seeds and skins come out one end, and the sauce comes out another. It is important to clean it right after you use it. Dried skins and seeds on the screen are difficult to remove. If you read the reviews on amazon, several people mention that the clamp at the bottom to attach it to your counter may not be wide enough if you have wide counter tops. I think counters are much wider than they use to be, as I have this same problem with my old Victorio. I have an old table I keep around just because I can clamp my Victorio to it. I love my Victorio, and wouldn't be without it. I would never use a food mill, but I know many people do and are happy with them.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2017 13:37:18 GMT
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Post by terrilynn on Aug 16, 2017 14:03:27 GMT
I don't know what a spaghetti strainer is. Do you mean a colander? I use a Victorio food strainer for making tomato sauce, apple sauce, pear sauce, etc... It looks like this one, but mine is an antique metal one I got from my mom: www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Strainer-Sauce-VICTORIO-VKP250/dp/B001I7FP54?psc=1&SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B001I7FP54It is very good at making sauce. The seeds and skins come out one end, and the sauce comes out another. It is important to clean it right after you use it. Dried skins and seeds on the screen are difficult to remove. If you read the reviews on amazon, several people mention that the clamp at the bottom to attach it to your counter may not be wide enough if you have wide counter tops. I think counters are much wider than they use to be, as I have this same problem with my old Victorio. I have an old table I keep around just because I can clamp my Victorio to it. I love my Victorio, and wouldn't be without it. I would never use a food mill, but I know many people do and are happy with them. I have one too after years of using a colander and it is so much easier and faster! I too have the problem with being able to clamp it to my counter tops.....my husband built me a "stool" to a height I specified (I am short) and it has a lip that extends on one side so I can clamp the strainer on, and it is longer on the top than a normal stool so another bowl will fit next to it to catch the skins/seeds. I usually put a large stockpot on a chair on next to the stool to catch the juice/pulp as it comes out.
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Post by kkbhf on Aug 16, 2017 14:33:40 GMT
I'm another happy Victorio user. Lazy too, I opted for the optional motor! The clamp needs your table top to have an overhang of at least 1.5", and be 3/4" to 1-3/4" thick.
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Post by paquebot on Aug 16, 2017 16:19:15 GMT
We use the same one that James uses. Have had it about 50 years. Nice thing about a chinois sieve is that there are no moving parts to break down when there's a bushel of tomatoes sitting on the table. My big sauce batches start with 9 gallons of thick juice so a lot of tomatoes are involved and no worry about not finishing the project.
Martin
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Post by phoenix on Aug 17, 2017 10:15:19 GMT
Thanks for the responses guys. Yes I meant colander, sorry about the misnomer. Paquebot, that item you and James use looks suspiciously like a colander, only in a different shape. As an an aside, we found one out in the woods of our property on an old trash heap. Never did know what it was for until now.
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Post by paquebot on Aug 17, 2017 13:59:39 GMT
A colander is only a one-piece bowl with holes and is used for draining foods, not processing them. A chinois is used to puree or remove seeds from foods. A century ago, every kitchen may have had one. They always have a wooden pestle to force the food through. Some also call them a conical sieve. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChinoiseMartin
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Post by Daniel on Aug 17, 2017 16:29:03 GMT
Do you have a Kitchenaid mixer. If so buy the strainer attachment. We love ours. We put up 3 five gallon buckets of Romas (upick field) (a lot of romas fit in a five gallon bucket.) and three buckets of regular maters. The kitchen Aid handled it all with no problem. The romas we just quartered and put them thru the strainer attachment. Poured the liquid into pitchers and put in fridge to cook down later in the crockpot overnight. Turned out perfect sauce. The regular maters (neighbor garden, ours didn't do squat) we made into juice and stewed tomatoes. The regular tomatoes we stewed some down and just put in jars, the rest we juiced with the strainer attachment, cooked a couple hours and jarred. All turned out great.
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Post by here to stay on Aug 17, 2017 16:54:42 GMT
I use a victorio too for making jam from berries too. I love it. I too had the counter problem but took a piece of board, clamped it to the counter using a large clamp then clamped the victorio to that.
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Post by willowgirl on Aug 22, 2017 4:29:35 GMT
Another vote for the Victorio!
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Post by phoenix on Aug 22, 2017 10:02:28 GMT
Daniel, that Kitchen Aid attachment is intriguing, any downside(s)?
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Post by Daniel on Sept 4, 2017 13:43:04 GMT
Daniel, that Kitchen Aid attachment is intriguing, any downside(s)? One downside, cleaning, but it's not a problem if you know about it. At the very back inside the strainer is ring like area that you can forget to clean. Solution was to keep some bamboo skewers in the kitchen drawer. As you rinse it out, but make sure to scrape around the area to a couple times, then no problem. Also we like to use a pitcher under the spout to collect the juice instead of a bowl.
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Post by adirondackgal on Sept 4, 2017 17:54:42 GMT
I also have the Kitchen Aid attachment and love it. I have no problems with it whatsoever, and it makes live so much easier.
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Post by hermitjohn on Sept 4, 2017 18:55:17 GMT
We use the same one that James uses. Have had it about 50 years. Nice thing about a chinois sieve is that there are no moving parts to break down when there's a bushel of tomatoes sitting on the table. My big sauce batches start with 9 gallons of thick juice so a lot of tomatoes are involved and no worry about not finishing the project. Martin Must be a regional thing. Growing up people called them a Foley Mill. They were simple rugged design, but not as fast or efficient as Victorio when doing large batches. I have a Victorio somewhere, havent raised enough tomatoes to use it in long time. And now cant eat tomatoes as they boost my blood sugar pretty fast. Got it cheap at thrift store back when people were trying to get rid of that sort of thing. Never seen Victorio even offer to break. Its a pretty good design. Also seen some slightly cheaper knock off versions that are obvious copies. Mom had an Italian made tomato juicer, little different design, more a box looking thing and no spiral, it had a cylinder with spring loaded metal bars, that turned with handle against a seive, but for all practical purposes worked much like the Victorio and the Foley, all force tomatoes against a sieve. It had one design flaw where seeds escaped into the juice, which I fixed with a bead of silicone sealant. It did well, was all metal and she used it for decades. She got it cause it was lot cheaper than Victorio but lot less manual effort than a Foley. Kind of a pain to thoroughly clean but it speeded processing tomatoes up enough to make it well worth the effort.
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Post by hermitjohn on Sept 4, 2017 19:00:39 GMT
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Post by horseyrider on Sept 4, 2017 20:45:50 GMT
Another KitchenAid person. My attachments have lasted through three mixers.
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Post by paquebot on Sept 4, 2017 20:48:54 GMT
A chinois sieve has been a chinois sieve forever. Lots of different designs and most people just call it a sieve. If bowl-shaped and no pestle, it's a colander but also a sieve.
Martin
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Post by hermitjohn on Sept 4, 2017 21:58:31 GMT
A chinois sieve has been a chinois sieve forever. Lots of different designs and most people just call it a sieve. If bowl-shaped and no pestle, it's a colander but also a sieve. Martin Ok whatever you say, but I've seen few country folk use them fancy French words unless they are Cajun. Chinois by way is French for Chinese person. From reading a bit about them, seems they were commonly called a Chinese Hat or derogatory variation of such. I suppose referring to the traditional cone shaped bamboo or straw peasant hats in east Asia. Growing up, I've seen the cones with pestle, but only ever heard them called either just cone sieve, or incorrectly a Foley since it serves same function though different configuration. And for whatever reason Foley mills were extremely popular back in the day though obviously that was a brand name.
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Post by comfortablynumb on Sept 5, 2017 0:02:34 GMT
The Victorio does work really well. You have to keep that "stainless steel" cone oiled or it rusts.
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Post by northerngardener on Sept 5, 2017 0:05:15 GMT
The Victorio does work really well. You have to keep that "stainless steel" cone oiled or it rusts. What do you oil it with?
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Post by comfortablynumb on Sept 6, 2017 22:28:11 GMT
Whatever veg oil is around. I ran out of coconut oil so last time I sprayed it with corn oil and wrapped it in a paper towel.
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Post by phoenix on Sept 7, 2017 11:08:45 GMT
We wound up getting the strainer attachment for the Kitchen Aid, we already had the grinder. Wow! It works great! Can't believe we didn't buy this years ago.
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Post by feather on Jun 19, 2020 16:40:32 GMT
Anyone getting a grinder/strainer for tomatoes this year? I'm thinking the kitchen aid vegetable strainer attachments for the meat grinder, since we don't really use the meat grinder anymore, it would be handy for tomatoes. It's already motor driven, so less wear and tear on the arms. Thinking of all the people that put in lots of garden this year.
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Post by mogal on Jun 19, 2020 19:30:28 GMT
I have a Victorio strainer I bought from Countryside General Store that was affiliated with Countryside magazine WAAAY back in the early 80's. Wish I had a dollar for every gallon of tomatoes, apple sauce, grape or other berry puree' that's gone through the thing. Later, I bought another at auction to use for spare parts when the company sold and the new owner kept the name but changed the design somewhat. Then I started going to MORE auctions....I also have a Squeezo complete with the original box and instruction/recipe booklet. There was also a brush for cleaning the screens that I still have but keep it in a drawer to use on whichever machine I have used.
I'd sell the Squeezo if anybody is interested. Including the brush, box and manual.
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Post by solargeek on Jun 20, 2020 2:28:52 GMT
I think I bought the KitchenAid three years ago and used it for the first time two years ago. I also have the clamp on food mill discussed on here in 2017. Boy lots of members who are gone or not posting
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Post by horseyrider on Jun 20, 2020 11:18:30 GMT
Hey mogal, I'm interested in your Squeezo. Check your messages, 'kay?
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