Preparing for canning my first batch of tomato sauce hopefully next month. I already know I will be freezing my tomato’s as they ripen and then using them all at once to make the ball basil-garlic tomato sauce. Recipe here: https://www.ballmasonjars.com/blog?cid=basil-garlic-tomato-sauce
Question is what kind of food mill would be best? I don’t have one and I don’t mind splurging a little bit if it makes sense as I’ve made homemade sauce many times before and pushing it through a sieve is dreadful. Would I be better off with a manual food mill? One with the handle that I have to turn myself, OR a kitchen aid attachment? (I am aware I will have to purchase the grinder and strainer separately for the kitchen aid) I imagine that would save me the time.
My concern is that I’ve only seen people use the kitchen aid attachment with whole raw tomatoes, this recipe says to do an initial cook, puree the sauce then run it through a food mill. Would that even be an option in a kitchen aid or would all the seeds and skins just come back through because they’re blended down so small? Photos attached of both options
by Trick-Ambassador3926
7 Comments
Neither. You want the Johnny Applesauce Maker, which is the renamed Victorio Strainer. Best thing for canning I’ve ever purchased. You don’t need to precook, you just wash the tomatoes, cut them into pieces that fit in the feed tube, and turn the crank. Passata comes out, seedless and skinless and ready to be cooked down.
I have heard really mixed reviews for the KitchenAid attachment and the old school strainer is *so much work*.
I have a hand crank and it doesn’t take long for your hands to get tired but I will say it’s very easy to clean. I have been considering the kitchen aid attachment too but I don’t know how easy it is to clean.
I have the oxo one. It’s metal where it needs it be an is solidly built, plus oxo backs all their products up with a lifetime warranty. The downside is hand cranking gets rough for larger batches. I got mine used for like $20, if I had to pay retail price I’d probably have gotten a generic attachment for my kitchenaid mixer. These all are so simple that I don’t see any benefit to buying the official kitchenaid one when I can get a knockoff that’s nearly identical for less than half the price. Some of the kitchenaid attachments are definitely worth paying the premium to get the official ones, a food mill isn’t one of them.
I have one for my Kitchenaid and it makes the job so easy. I bought an Oxo hand crank one from Amazon and sent it back, it was terrible. I do not pre cook the tomatoes either with the kitchen aid, I wash and cut into chunks.
I have the OXO and I love it. It is great for de-seeding blackberries and black raspberries
It gets 90 to 95 percent of the seeds.and it is great for applesauce also. No need to peel the apples. Just cook and mill. It is more work but you have better control over texture, size and seed removal.
My mother in law bought both of the styles referenced in the op and they are ok. I prefer the kitchen aid attached one just because it is faster and you dont have to crank it forever. However my grandmother bought me a Gulliver Super when I first started growing tomatoes and making sauce/ salsa. For me it has been hands down the fastest way I have found to process tomatoes. I typically wash, core, and blanch the tomatoes before I run them through the processor. If I have very large tomatoes (We grew a Hungarian Heat tomatoe that weighed 1 pound 11 Oz this season) I will cut them into more manageable size pieces before running them through. I would highly reccomend the Gulliver Super for home tomato processing.
I’d already processed most of my tomatoes this year, but I finally bought a Weston Roma strainer. (hand crank) I also purchased additional screens for salsa, berries, and pumpkin. I don’t imagine I’ll ever need the pumpkin one, but I froze my blackberries so I’ll make seedless jam.
It is so much easier than using a chinois, or a food mill as pictured. I have a mill you can have if you’re in E NC. 😂
The Weston can be clamped to a tabletop, but it has a powerful suction base , which worked well, so I didn’t use the clamp.