October 24, 2017

Victorio strainer vs. Kitchenaid food mill (+ 8 quarts applesauce)

I almost forgot--I got 8 more quarts of applesauce canned this month, with the help of my in-laws.
This time I used a Victorio strainer, and I really liked it.

In the past I've just used the applesauce/food mill attachments on our KitchenAid Mixer.

3 things stood out to me using the Victorio strainer:

1. It was not as high off the counter. That meant I could scoop apples into it standing on the ground, vs. standing on a stool. My kids still would have had to be on a stool, but they wouldn't have had to reach so high. When you're dealing with hot cooked apples, shorter reaches are better.
I did have to put a casserole pan underneath to catch the applesauce rather than a bowl, since it was so near to the counter, but that worked out okay.

2. The hopper, where you put all the apples to be squished, and the actual strainer part were much bigger on the Victorio strainer. I could put half the saucepan of cooked apples in there at a time.
That was nice and made the job go much quicker.
These 8 quarts worth took maybe 2 1/2 hours all together, including cutting them in quarters, cooking them, squishing, and canning.

3. I didn't mind cranking by hand. 
With the mixer, you turn it on low and it churns away, so I wondered how it would compare having to do it by hand. It wasn't bad at all. Not hard; kind of relaxing, in a way.
I'm a little sad I did it while my kids were at school, actually, because I think they would have really enjoyed it.

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They both were about the same to clean out at the end--kind of a pain.

The apple waste coming out the end of the strainer attachment did not look like poop, unlike the Kitchenaid waste. My kids would say that's a negative!

I like that I have a non-electric option for easily making applesauce.
I felt a real connection to my grandmother ancestors cranking away.
Going back to the good old days and the good old ways!

Also, I was intrigued by the other uses mentioned for it: making seedless jams and jellies, making purees and baby food, straining squash and pumpkin for smooth stringless pies, etc...
I want to explore these further!

I'm sure we'll still use the food mill attachment on the KitchenAid for some things, but I'm glad I have the option now of using the Victorio strainer.

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Have you used both? Which do you prefer?

2 comments:

  1. I have never used the kitchenaid attachment, but I do have a victorio strainer and love it (except for cleaning the screen after use). I've only used it for apple/pear sauce and tomato sauce so far, but am interested in trying other things with it!

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    1. I want to try it with cooked squash--maybe my kids would eat it better if it weren't so stringy!

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