[QUOTE=Spike2;596746]WOW I need to upgrade!! I use one of these:

[IMG]http://d2ydh70d4b5xgv.cloudfront.net/images/9/c/vintage-canning-sieve-w-pestle-fruit-tomato-juicer-strainer-colander-3-pieces-741ee53e771f25091126dbd34d9c39b1.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]

I got one of them too. Not entirely sure of the proper use. I used it to mill strawberries for my last batch of Strawberry Ghost Jam. Nice texture if a little slow. But I've never seen my ancestors use one. They had better juicers, so what else to use it for? Milling tomatoes for 'crushed'? puréed?

As one might guess, these things are a pain in the nose to store. I'm considering Goodwill. (Unless I can find a St. Vincent dePaul around here.) Anyone wanna pay shipping?

[QUOTE=dmforcier;596753]I got one of them too. Not entirely sure of the proper use. I used it to mill strawberries for my last batch of Strawberry Ghost Jam. Nice texture if a little slow. But I've never seen my ancestors use one. They had better juicers, so what else to use it for? Milling tomatoes for 'crushed'? puréed?

As one might guess, these things are a pain in the nose to store. I'm considering Goodwill. (Unless I can find a St. Vincent dePaul around here.) Anyone wanna pay shipping?[/QUOTE]

My mother processed untold thousands of jars of product through one of these.
When I got big enough I had to use it.
Cooked tomatoes and such are put in that strained then that is put thorough a cheese cloth.
The chinois is a finer meshed version of this for soups and such.
Also a life saver for lumpy gravy.
Another good use is for straining vegetable stock.

Worth

Hmm. Thanks. I can see both uses - strainer and cheesecloth holder.



[SIZE=1]I don't make lumpy gravy any more.[/SIZE] 8-)

And is also excellent for applesauce.

[QUOTE=dmforcier;596759]Hmm. Thanks. I can see both uses - strainer and cheesecloth holder.



[SIZE=1]I don't make lumpy gravy any more.[/SIZE] 8-)[/QUOTE]
You will now that you said you dont.

The cheese cloth was filled with the left over pulp ends put together at the top and twisted the get the rest out afterwards too.
From grapes to blackberries and everything in between.
The best way to store it is to hang it from the ceiling.

Worth

[QUOTE=salix;596762]And is also excellent for applesauce.[/QUOTE]

Yes it is I dont have one and wish I did.

Worth

[QUOTE=Worth1;596765]Yes it is I dont have one and wish I did.

Worth[/QUOTE]



You could have had one, but you just talked the duck into keeping his.

Quack!

[QUOTE=Spike2;596746]WOW I need to upgrade!! I use one of these:

[IMG]http://d2ydh70d4b5xgv.cloudfront.net/images/9/c/vintage-canning-sieve-w-pestle-fruit-tomato-juicer-strainer-colander-3-pieces-741ee53e771f25091126dbd34d9c39b1.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]


Got a couple of those, Spike- they also make the best riced potatoes, like for gnocchi!

[QUOTE=dmforcier;596753]

As one might guess, these things are a pain in the nose to store. [/QUOTE]

If you are talking about my 3 legged strainer thing, it fits right inside my water bath canner. LOL I store them together!

[QUOTE=Father'sDaughter;596776]You could have had one, but you just talked the duck into keeping his.[/QUOTE]

The shipping by way of US mail would be from 16 to 20 dollars.
I can get a stainless one on line for around 30 to 40 dollars.

Worth

Here I am, searching for ways to use/keep excess eggplant and I found this year old thread and had to comment. I just finished cleaning up our victorio and packed it back in the box after another nice batch of sauce. I have a new victorio and have used the old ones as well. IMO the new one is much better simply due to the much better seal and the motor. The old one, though better quality of material, leaks a whole lot more from the crank seal and particularly the screen interface and was honestly a mess to use.

The new one I bought as a package with all the accessories and the motor. The motor is a puny thing but works great for me for raw tomatoes, steamed softened pears, and using the big screen for mashing/ricing cooked potatoes. For tomatoes I prefer feeding them raw. Heated tomatoes broken down to liquid will back fill the feed spout and cause a vacuum. It won't want to feed, then will push liquid through the seal. Raw is easier for me logistically and I run it non-stop for the 20 qts it takes to fill the 3 pots I can use to cook down. I don't clean nor scrape the screen at all in that time. I used to run the mash a second time, but now, after that is done I run the mash through my Champion Juicer once and top the pots off with that. Durgan's praise of his Champion led me to find that gem on CL for $20 just a few miles away.

The clamp on the new victorio fits our table perfectly, so it is nice and solid. When I first got it I did have an incident where it "blew up"! The screen locks on the body with a lot of compression against it from the spring. What happened was it kind of clogged and I took the motor off, put on handle and reversed it, thinking that might help. It did, for a few times, and then at some point it unscrewed itself with the reverse motion and the spring shot it apart!

The next time I reassembled it I marked where set screw location goes when tight, and drilled a recess there so the set screw can actually bite into the body. It hasn't "blown up" since!

I dehydrated my excess eggplant. How did you use yours?

Interesting about the drilled recess for the set screw!

Linda

I have a three legged cone shaped strainer and we grew up using it for Butternut squash. Just cut up the squash, cook it with skin on and throw the hot pieces into the strainer, strain into a bowl and leave the skin behind. Add a little butter and brown sugar to the bowl and yum! We (Mom) also used it for applesauce.

For tomatoes I finally bought a 40.00 Oxo food mill. Of coarse I rarely do more than 15 lbs tomatoes at one time, so if you process large amts a larger, heavier duty mill or something motorized would be easier. But I like that I can just turn backwards and it clears the mesh, then keep going, and in the end leaves only peel and seeds behind. When it gets too many peels and seeds, which doesn't take too long, I just run it under the faucet for a minute, dump it out and keep going. I process the tomatoes after cooking briefly to soften, though I don't wait for them to cool. I put a couple ladels full of tomatoes in at a time and start slowly and don't have any problems processing hot tomatoes.

I tried the OXO from bed bath beyond and didn't care for it. I really had to push down it because the legs flexed too much/spring too strong. Also, clearing the scrap all the time was a pain. It was not too bad for small jobs but I am a double batch type. They took it back for store credit, but so far they have kept that money. I go in there every so often but see nothing of interest. At some point I may see if they have canning lids and use it up that way. I did pick up an old foley mill for 50 cents at a yard sale and I like that for some things. No flex in that one, but only one screen size.

Eggplant...well I was looking for a way to use up a free pile but I ended up passing on the excess. I love eggplant as long as I keep picking it and I know it is young, and not iodine-y. My brother has a bunch picked but no idea how to use them. I supply the plants for free so he grows too many. I went up to his place to get his dogs, as I have to watch them for the next week while he is on vacation. While there I raided his tomato cages. I took his ripe tomatoes that will go bad this week, and the ones already going downhill, but left the eggplant. I cannot trust that it is not too old already. I despise eggplant that is too mature; I get that taste and it just turns me off to eggplant for a long time.

Drying I did not think of...the only thing that seemed feasible was skinning, cubing, and pressure canning it, and I really don't know if that would be worth the jar use. How does one use dried eggplant? I do have a 10 rack dehydrator.

What we mostly do with eggplant is peel, slice, cover in salt, then egg+bread crumbs or dry with panko crumbs. Love it this way but it is August and we can only eat so much. We also fry a few pans of it like that and then make eggplant parm. I think we have three parm in the freezer from this month, but freezer space is tight here. Also, eggplant in the skillet is something that takes a while and demands attention, so just making them for the freezer is a time sink.

What I would like to find is an EASY way to convert/save the eggplant to make eggplant parm later in the year. I keep having a vision that I should mash the eggplant (instead of slice) and sort of season and bake it in layers in one big tray, instead of babysitting the skillet. I was thinking maybe the victorio with largest screen might do a good job busting up raw eggplant, like it does on cooked potatoes. Then I could season, oil, and lay it out in layers on pans in the convection oven. Maybe make trays of eggplant parm like that, or preferably freeze just the bags of browned eggplant like that for later use. We have in the past frozen pan fried slices and they were decent, but not like fresh.

I keep thinking about it but haven't tried it. This is going to be a hectic week already with four springer spaniels instead of just two, and I just didn't feel like dealing with it.