What do you think about food mills?

It's shopping time again at our house and now we're looking for the best food mill.

The first one we had was sort of like this: https://www.amazon.com/Granite-Ware-Stainless-Deluxe-2-Quart/dp/B00C1WRG66/ (all stainless, big disks on bottom, hand crank on top).

Then we got one for the Kitchen Aid mixer: https://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-KSMFVSP-Fruit-Vegetable-Strainer/dp/B07XTQT7JM/ which just became so impacted with raspberry seeds that I damaged it badly trying to get it unscrewed and ultimately threw it away.

So we started out looking for one that will use the mixer's PTO, but is all metal. Apparently such a thing doesn't exist.

Now we're looking at maybe getting a table-top hand-crank device...maybe this one: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0000DDVMQ/

What do you use? what do you like and dislike?

If there's something that's hard to find because it's a little more industrial than 'prosumer' shoppers are looking for, that might be on the table for us if it isn't too bulky.

I had one of the Norpro mills some years ago.  It worked great and it will remove all seeds and skins from "soft" veggies and fruit.

It did start after a few years to leak a bit at the handle while in use, it wasn't that big of a deal just place a towel or dish cloth under it.

I added a wood spacer block under the base so that a larger bowl could be used.

There was an American made one of all metal that was high priced, but it was my dream mill to have someday, don't know if it is still around or not.

Peace

Sort of related—I would love to have one of those big wooden mortar and pestle sets like used to be used to make corn flour. There are so many things that having such a thing would make easier. But I haven’t felt drawn to make or buy one at this point. (Could be that I don’t need it after all.)

Source: http://ushistoryimages.com/choctaw-indians.shtm

(I just noticed how thin and hungry that dog looks! Poor creature…)

I have been wanting one like my mom used for my sisters food when we were kids.

It was a hand held kind without that crank.

I'm currently trying to figure out if https://www.webstaurantstore.com/tre-spade-continuous-feed-manual-tomato-mill-f10000-ii/43AF10000II.html has a metal or plastic worm/screw. There's an additional, finer cone for berries that can be gotten to extend its use-cases.

I'm rocking a small food mill right now for processing tomatoes and have been enjoying it, similar to what you have utilized.

Small Stainless Steel Food Mill

I appreciate the simplicity and ease of storage. I haven't reached the point to where I'm canning so much I can justify to myself getting a larger model.

Does anyone have any nifty food mill uses that others might not be taking advantage of?

We have a Foley style food mill, similar to the OP's, which gets used for separating cores, seeds and skins from cooked down apples, of skins from plums when making plum sauce, etc.  Also, a three legged "Chinese hat" style strainer (not a true chinoise - the holes are too large), but I need to make a proper muddle for that one from a broken shovel handle or similar to really make good use of it.  You can press stuff through the holes with a sturdy wooden spoon, but it's not as effective as having the right tool for the job.  So, at the moment, the Foley style food mill is the one that gets used.  My mother only ever had a Foley mill, and she managed to put up a lot of apple sauce with it.

I also have an old Enterprise juicer, similar to the one seen here, though perhaps a different size from the one profiled:
https://southernfusionfood.com/2020/01/29/enterprise-34-juicer/

These were variously sold as "juicers" or "meat juicers" - apparently "meat juice" was a tonic to build up invalids and the infirm, back in the day.  Who knew?  I need to make some new sieve plates from stainless or brass shim stock for the one I have (but I got it at a cheap price).  My plan is to use it to make tomato sauce (separate the skins and seeds, then cook down the resulting pulp), and - possibly - grape juice.  I don't think the clearances are quite right to use it as an oil press, but it is conceptually similar to the Piteba.

I am a sucker for any old hand powered tools, whether for the kitchen or otherwise.  Much to my wife's chagrin.

We just ordered a 30-year old Squeezo on eBay, so in a few weeks once it's arrived and we've had a chance to use it, I'll come back with a brief review.

We've got a Flotte Lotte GEFU food mill. It was a bit pricey, but works well. My old one broke (cheap one from Amazon). And yes, it was worth repurchasing. Main uses are mashed potatoes (larger disk), spaetzle, backup colander, marinara, tkemali plum sauce. It's worth it for marinara alone. Not making applesauce and jams/jellies at the moment, but would use a foodmill if I was. I've also used it for hummus, but it turns out fine in a vitamix. Good backup to have, though.

Raspberry seeds are hard- i suspect only a chinoise is going to do a good job.
I make a lot of guava jelly and for guava seeds, my omega juicer is a rock star (also for tomato seeds). But my mother has a metal hand-crank one (like the one in your first link) that is about 100 years old and it still works a charm.

I've had a stainless food mill for about 30 years, and I use it to get seeds out of things like Blackberries, and to smooth things like cooked pumpkin for a nice texture in pies.

Mine has 3 screens, and occasionally, I will use the screen with the largest holes first, and then repeat with a finer one, depending on what I'm trying to accomplish. I did that when making humus for a friend who's more sensitive to having "bits" in things than I am.

Mine looks very similar to this picture:


One benefit of the style, is that the legs are long enough that it will fit on several slightly different pots that I have. The legs fold under for storage.

Another benefit of this sort of mill over a juicer is that it lets through much more "pulp" than my friend's juicer does, so it seems like much less waste is produced. (even though the left-overs generally go to chickens or worms).

Lastly, as Tereza mentions, low tech just keeps on working when you need it, and sits in a closet when it isn't, but it doesn't require electricity, or make a pile of noise when in use.

I also find it less fiddly to clean than my friend's juicer, although anything like this will be fiddly to some degree.

Ok, so our daughter pointed out that I may have a thing for grinders.

No, seriously, I may have a problem.  

Off the top of her head, she pointed out that we have the following food mills:

1. Victoria mill for grinding masa (hand-cranked, inexpensive, but effective).
2. Wondermill Junior Deluxe (hand-cranked, expensive-ish, great for dry grains, TERRIBLE for masa - seriously, don't believe them when they suggest it for that use).
3. Horizontal crank food mill that sits on top of a pan, three screens (hand-cranked, inexpensive). It's a fine piece of equipment, and easy to use, but raspberries go right through it.
4. Food mill that works with the meat grinder attachment for the KitchenAid mixer.  It's expensive-ish and works fine, but I managed to destroy it (as Chris described in his OP) last weekend. It's a fine choice, and it broke entirely due to user error.  It also only removed about 2/3 or 3/4 of the raspberry seeds.
5. Nixtamatic for grinding masa (expensive particularly with shipping from Mexico. Electric, powerful and fast, but produces masa identical to what comes out of the Victoria).
6. Squeezo (on its way to us - will replace #4, and perhaps #3 above. Expensive-ish but bought used, so far more affordable than a new one). Three screens including one very fine one intended for berries.
7. Various coffee grinders (2 electric, numerous hand-crank)

(Added: I also have a variety of other similar tools including blenders (regular and immersion), food processors, mixers and depending on how you count, a low-tech proper chopper.  And knives.)

I thought pretty seriously of buying an aftermarket KitchenAid attachment to replace the one I broke, but since we upgraded to a bowl lift model, attachments are mounted to the PTO pretty high up, which means that the drop is significantly greater for the puree and seeds than on a tilt-head model.  I don't have bowls tall enough to contain the splatter, and hadn't yet figured out a way to raise the bowls (like sitting on a phonebook when we were kids).  I also really wanted a plastic-free model, as I don't like to use plastics with hot foods.  I do use plastic containers, but I try to minimize them, and to avoid putting hot foods in them, as I think that's more likely to outgas nasty chemicals into my food.

Hi Cathy,

I suspect your figures are close to mine.  I can quickly think of 12 that we have.

I'm just going to pipe in my 2 cents speaking from my experience;
while I'm for "going green" I also look out for my health (manual versus electrical.
First would be: how much produce I'm looking at to process.
If it's little, than manual may be O.K.
However, I am (have been) processing bushels of produce to can or dehydrate. Therefore, I splurged on commercial Vitamix blender. It vaporizes seeds and liquefy whatever I may want to preserve (making tomato paste for canning,  tomatoes juice, creamed soups, apple sauce and so on). There are always exceptions (large hard seeds) so that's where the steam juice come handy.
I invested in food processor that has  slicing/dicing options for vegetables/fruits.
I am just past the time where it took me several hours of standing on my feet peeling, chopping, than cranking  some handle with my hand/s, cooking and so on day in and day out.
I don't want to spend the best time of the year (short season where I live) tending pots & pans if I can achieve so much in  shorter time.
I admit, I am kitchen junkie too. I think I have almost every tool invented under the sun all for making my work efficient. Storage may be a concern but that's where containers come to play.
Mostly, all depends on foods we eat, quantity we're going to consume and some we give away (because I have excess produce and tools to make with).
that's it.

Go get yourself one of those old used metal and wood handled Foley food mill. You'll never need a blender again. If you're making blackberry jam cook your berries and sugar and put it through the fully food meal. If you're making cream of tomato soup cook your tomatoes put them through the fully food meal. Skins and seeds will be left behind everything else will be pressed through. It's much better than a blender which chops everything up in the little pieces. The Foley food mill presses it through. It's got a better texture.
Back on the commune in 1972 is where I learned about the Foley food mill. I am 71 years old and still use a Foley food mill. I actually have two of them. You can still buy the screw with the spring on it in case it gets lost on eBay. You can also buy the meals on eBay and Amazon. They are indestructible in the last a lifetime. They clean up quickly and there's nothing finer. No electricity just a hand crank on the top similar to those stainless steel ones pictured that are a modern take off which I'm sure work fine as well.

Several years ago while deployed to a disaster, I erred in attempting to eat some under cooked broccoli and dislocated my jaw.  A co-worker loaned me his Champion commercial quality juicer.  That was a life saver.  I was able to cold press fruit and vegetables and then mixed the masticated pulp with the juice and ate - did not have to attempt to chew.  I was so impressed, I tracked one down to use at home.  Here is a site I found where one could be viewed and purchased.  Yes, it is expensive, but this puppy will laugh at raspberry seeds and keep on rolling.  It can be used for multiple things including wheatgrass juicing.  https://discountjuicers.com/championcomm.html

Jay Angler wrote:Welcome to permies, Cathy. Looks like you've landed among your tribe!

Thanks!

Chris has occasionally sent me "of interest" threads for years (usually when we are researching a gardening/DIY/Cooking topic), so I almost feel like I know folks here. :-)

Ela La Salle wrote:I'm just going to pipe in my 2 cents speaking from my experience;
while I'm for "going green" I also look out for my health (manual versus electrical.

That's what led to us finally getting the Nixtamatic after six years of making do with the Victoria hand mill.

Hand-grinding partially-cooked corn is a lot of work, and is pretty hard on the back.  We both love masa-based foods (tamales are my latest obsession) but it was hard enough work, that it limited the amount I was willing to make.   I went from making tortillas/sopes/etc maybe 1x per month, to every week.  

(Added: Credit were it's due - Chris pretty often did the cranking for me, while I stood around the corner of the table from him, feeding the hopper)