Vegetable/fruit grinder/strainer

[Moopheus]

I'm thinking about getting a seed strainer for tomatoes and berries, like this Squeezo or the grinder/strainer attachment for the Kitchenaid mixer. I was wondering if anybody out there used this sort of strainer and had anything to say about it.

[CheGuevara]

unfortunately can't be of any help - but wold love to get some feedback on the kitchenaid strainer from any infomred poster.

-che

[rancho_gordo]

I love my all-metal food mill with three screens. Simple, cheap and it works.

[andiesenji]

I love my all-metal food mill with three screens. Simple, cheap and it works.

Me too! I still have an ancient Foley that still works just fine, however I bought a larger one a couple of years ago that I like much better, mainly because it fits over a larger container.

I process a lot of fruits and veg and have all kinds of gadgets but keep going back to the old tried and true things.

The tiny seeds still get through but I put the puree through a chinois and that takes care of the seeds.

[Suzanne F]

I've got the KA attachment (it comes with the grinder), but have never used it, so I can't really help other than to say its advantage is virtually hands-free operation, and the KA does all the heavy lifting.

Me, I use a food mill with interchangeable screens. Requires more elbow grease, but works fine (and is less expensive than the KA, if you don't already have some of the parts).

However: a heads-up -- All Clad has come out with a food mill! I don't know how widely available it is, but I really covet it. Nice large capacity, very very sturdy, all stainless steel. Not cheap, to be sure, but I'll bet it will last forever.

[Malawry]

I love my Foley. Perfect for soups, applesauce, hummus, anything really.

I own a KA mixer but own no special attachments. Sometimes I eye the meat grinder but that's all that captures my interest. Maybe I'll look at the food mill when I have a child down the road, so I can use it to make baby food without occupying both hands and full attention. (I suspect babies will make it hard to keep an eye and two hands on the Foley.)

[andiesenji]

You can compare several food mills at this site:

food mill

I have the Halco because it holds 5 quarts.

The mid-size Matfer is another very good mill.

I have seen the All-Clad, similar to the Cuisipro.

[CheGuevara]

my current food mill is a moulinex, metal, which gets stuck at every second turn - i'd rather forgo the mashed potates to avoid the intense aggravation.

concerning the KA food mill - anyone know if it comes with different discs, or just one? i already have the meat grinder and i'm terribly happy with it.

should i opt for the KA attachment - or the a new food mill (that works)?

-che

[andiesenji]

concerning the KA food mill - anyone know if it comes with different discs, or just one? i already have the meat grinder and i'm terribly happy with it.

should i opt for the KA attachment - or the a new food mill (that works)?

-che

In my opinion, the KA attachments are overpriced.

Check on ebay. I have seen seldom used attachments sold for much less than the original price.

In fact one of the food mills was on ebay a few months back, purchased to make baby food and little used, and it sold for about $40.00 as I recall. There was some discussion about this on another list which is the reason I recall it.

The Moulinex is tricky to adjust so that it works easily because the spring assembly on the bottom has to be adjusted just right or it "snags" which has been a complaint for some time.

Unless you are going to be processing a lot of fruit and veg, opt for the Foley or the less expensive Matfer, both have a long track record of ease of use.

As I said earlier, I got the larger Halco because I process a lot of fruit.

I used to have a stand-alone electric food mill (Kenwood) but had problems with it forcing too many seeds through the holes in the fine straining plate. It was about $70.00, less than I paid for the manual Halco, but only held a little more than a liter and the switch required constant thumb pressure, not easy with arthritic hands.

I gave it away.

[marinade]

I have the large and small stainless-hand-crank-three-disk type food mill that I use over measuring cups and bowls. They work but there has been occasional tipping. More the fault of the operator than the tool.

For straining large amounts of veggies, fruit puree’s or sauces I use an attachment for my Cuisinart that sits over the bowl and is powered by a spindle that connects to the motor stem. It’s all-plastic with a fine mesh and a good capacity. And that sucker just strains (without strain). The strainer was an add-on to an add-on, the juicer attachment. This attachment was made in an era where Carl (S) still owned company. There were more blades and add-ons available that one could possibly use. Speaking of that era, does anyone remember a slick mag from Cuisinart called “Pleasures of Cooking”?

Wish I could be more help on this in terms of locating a site that still carries them.

I have the KA meat grinder and my only issue with that attachment is the capacity of the hopper, which may be or may not be an issue for you.

Edited July 14, 2004 by marinade (log)

[marinade]

Just a quick addendum to the above post. One summer my wife brought home a flat of fresh raspberries. They were almost on the verge of turning so I used the Cusinart plastic dough blade to break them up and the top strainer to separate the seeds. Froze the puree in 1 cup increments and had raspberry puree to play with all winter.

[Nancy Sexton]

Hi,

Just came out of lurking...

I have the Kitchen Food Mill attachment, the one that works with the Food Grinder.

It only has one screen, a fine one.

A good thing about it is that I doubt you could break it.

The bad thing about it is that it might throw out too much "waste" and you can't squeeze things out as much as you'd like.

It's design is to dump out all the stuff that doesn't fairly easily make it through. This is the "waste".

I like it for processing tomatoes, I put the waste back through 3-4 times and it ends up fine.

Recently I was wanting to squish up some sour cherries and it just gave too much waste back, I ended resorting to my Moulinex to process them.

I'd say if your main application is tomatoes or another very soft thing, you would probably think this is worth the money. If you're trying to process something tougher, I doubt it would make you happy.

Nancy Sexton

[achevres]

I used to have an old Vittantonio strainer. I threw it away during my last move because I hadn't used it in a while, and regret having done so every raspberry season. I got it specifically for raspberies, as it had a berry screen. It did strain berries very well. I don't think the regular crank food mills can strain out berry seeds, as the holes are too large.

The new model of strainer is suppossed to be even better and is described here: Villaware Food Strainer. It is a machine similiar to the Squeezo you were asking about, but with a lot of the parts in plastic (and less expensive). It does have more screens than the Squeezo. The Villaware has grape spiral, pumpkin, berry and salsa screens available, in addition to the standard (tomato) screen that comes with the machine. The Squeezo has standard, pumpkin and berry screens only.

I recently started looking into buying a replacement strainer, so I did some research, but I hadn't heard about the Squeezo.

I emailed Kitchen Aid about their strainer and they said that it would strain raspberries, but not other things with bigger pits, like grapes or pumpkin.

Let us know what you decide. BTY, my favorite things to do with the strained raspberries are syrup and raspberry butter (Lee Bailey's recipes) and raspberry ice cream (old Cuisine recipe).

Edited to correct spelling.

Edited July 15, 2004 by achevres (log)

[trillium]

As I said earlier, I got the larger Halco because I process a lot of fruit.

I used to have a stand-alone electric food mill (Kenwood) but had problems with it forcing too many seeds through the holes in the fine straining plate. It was about $70.00, less than I paid for the manual Halco, but only held a little more than a liter and the switch required constant thumb pressure, not easy with arthritic hands.

I gave it away.

Thanks for the recommend. We do liters of pomerola in the summer and we were thinking of upgrading our food mill...ours is a little dinky thing that was purchased on a grad student buget. We were just talking last night about looking into getting another one and I thought I'd ask on eG, and lo and behold, the thread was right here waiting for me. I love the kindness of strangers who cook.

regards,

trillium

[LaurieA-B]

trillium, what is pomerola?

[trillium]

uh-oh... a misspelling of pomarola... sorry... I am the world's worst typer, I'm sure. Pomarola is tomato sauce, the kind where you simmer fresh tomatoes with carrot, onion, celery, garlic and herbs according to your region. It goes through the food mill, gets simmered down further, a few basil leaves stirred in and then canned or jarred with olive oil on top to prevent mold.

regards,

trillium

[LaurieA-B]

Thank you, it's a new word for me. Sounds like a delicious item to have in the pantry.

[Smithy]

Welcome out of lurking, Nancy Sexton, and thanks for the review! I've toyed with the idea of buying the processor attachment for my KA, and I'm glad to have the info.

Now I have a comment and/or question for the assembled masses. A few years ago I bought a stainless steel food mill with 3 interchangeable screens. It was the right size and right price (inexpensive, and maybe that's my problem). I've been disappointed with its operation. It seems to push the food around the disk as much as it squeezes or strains the food, and I'm continually backing the blade, poking stuff around, and trying again. I think the reason is that the disk holes are very smooth (nice machining!) and they actually need rough edges to snag the pulp. Does this idea make sense? Since I'd never used a food mill before I'm not sure whether my expectations were reasonable in the first place.

Nancy Smith

[Moopheus]

That's just the problem I have with mine. It doesn't actually force the food through the screens. That and the fact that the screens aren't fine enough for seeds started me thinking about the grinder/strainer.

[Shelby]

Bumping up this old topic.  

 

I'm toying with buying a Squeezo.  I've read good things about it.  But, in reading some recent reviews on Amazon a third party seems to be making them now and they are not as sturdy as they once were.  Anyone have a Squeezo here?  

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Squeezo-09101S-Strainer/dp/B0015QH3L2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424127204&sr=8-1&keywords=squeezo

[JoNorvelleWalker]

No experience with Squeezo, but the thought of tomatoes with aluminum makes me pause.

 

I have the attachment for my Cuisinart but I don't think I've used it in twenty years.  For one thing the holes aren't very fine.  I like a tamis, myself.