Do you have a KitchenAid stand mixer? If so, I highly recommend their fruit and vegetable strainer. It's done everything for me from apples to tomatoes to blackberries without any problem.

If not, several hear have the Villaware strainer and like it very much. I've never used one myself. I do have a Foley style food mill but never ever use it.

Malon

Ruby Star, I have an old "Squeezo" food mill that is all stainless steel, it is the early version of today's Villaware food mill. Even the Villaware mills today contain a lot of plastic in place of the stainless steel.

I also have a Foley, which I use periodically for things like the Roasted Garlic and Tomato Soup, or getting the "hunks" out of my Plum Sauce because my daughter likes the sauce smooth, not chunky.

The Squeezo is wonderful for applesauce and for some jams, but I never use it for salsa because I like big chunks and the screens are too small for a "chunk" to go though. However, they are too big for red raspberries, some of the seeds still go through.

As I said, the food mill is great for applesauce, but you won't get any chunks or pieces of peel, it'll all be "sauced".

Annie

The Villaware has a plastic auger (spiral), and a clear plastic cone shaped end that does have small tabs on it. Because its polycarbonate, its a tough clear plastic that should hold up very well if care is used when its snapped on. Its not really necessary to use this extension unless the catch pan is big and also can't be positioned away from the waste end. The body is cast aluminium, the strainers are stainless. Foleys are now mostly m ade of tin plated steel and also some brass is used. They are a poor mans way to mash up soft foods compared to the Villaware. When doing apples, the instructions specify that they should be cooked first. Raspberry seeds didn't pass through my berry screen, although the one packed with the machine will pass seeds through. The salsa screen has much larger holes and can give you a slightly chunky product. I sold both of my Foleys (large and small) for $5 in my last garage sale. If the whole Villaware machine were stainless, it would cost twice its price. A local wine making supply house near here has an all stainless electric one fof about $300. Used mostly for grapes, but has optional screens as well.

My tomatoes, this year, had tough skins for some reason. When I used the VIllaware, these skins bound up in the spirals of the auger and would not push out the end. I had to open it up and remove this hardened mass several times when I did my 2 bushels of tomatoes. It may be that the spiral is getting worn a little when it rubs against the stainless steel screens.

I have a kitchen aid mixer and I want the veggie strainer, but I was told that the blackberries would bind it up! Does it take the seeds out? I want something that will take the seeds out!LOL! I know Newbies!
Brenda

The kitchenaid worked just fine with cranberries but I have only used it for cranberries and apples. Check out the last post by Malonanddonna in this thread. Apparently he uses the kitchenaid strainer for blackberries (among other things).

Here is a link that might be useful: apple sauce thread

The seeds of raspberries and black berries are large, and will work with the Villaware with the berry screen. Cranberries, however have much smaller seeds that might pass through. The much larger seeds from grapes can also be done, but the spiral auger is a bit shorter to allow the bigger seeds to pass out the end. The sieve that comes standard with the VIllaWare is NOT very good for getting the seeds out of berries. The standard sieve is used mostly for tomatoes which have slightly larger seeds compared to black and raspberries..

Same thing happened to my Back to basics mill, Ruby, when I was canning some tomatoes. it got sort of donut shaped where the bowl part sunk down around the hole where the food goes into. Have you tried to let it bend itself back to proper shape....I'd enivsioned putting the hopper/bowl thing in a pot of boiling water, then taking it out and pulling on the bottom...see if i can get it more cone shaped again. haven't tried it yet, waiting for applesauce season.

I think you can get replacement parts for the strainers. I do know they sell the screens and auger/spirals. Contact the maker, and if its the Villaware type, I'm sure, even if it has a different name on the box, it will still be compatible. The sizes of these hasn't changed. They do say to partially cook the apples first, before you run through the strainers.

Hi all.... soooo sorry for the delay in thanking y'all for your replies, but had a family emergency & then have been working hard to catch up on my harvesting/canning since I got home. Haven't even glanced at the computer before now, lest I get even more behind!

So. THANK YOU all for your replies! :D

Malon, I don't have a stand mixer :(

I think the Villaware is the same design as the strainer I have? Anyway, it's pretty close. Having made several more qts of applesauce in the past week, I'm settled to keeping it for at least that purpose. But I do want to check out the Foley, since it seems to make things chunkier, if I catch what Annie is describing? -- Ken, you've motivated me to get out & hunt the yard sales!

In the meantime, yes, Meg, what you describe is exactly what I've got going on. Since that first hot batch I am now letting the apples cool almost entirely before straining them. And DH is gonna make me a replacement bowl for the top out of an old stainless steel mixing bowl we have around.

Thanks again everyone!
Monica
:)

The Foley isn't as efficient as the Villaware. The only Foleys I have seen have a single sized holed flat sieve and do not offer a chunky option. The way the Foley works is its just a single paddle that moves over the strainer and has just little pressure to push things through. I would expect that doing apples with it would require many hundreds of crankings just for a small amount. The VIllaware, even though some don't seem to be able to justify it, has been the most efficient kitchen canning tool I own. I compare the Foley to a cutting board and knife to chop up meat for sausages, where you can't get an even cut no matter how you try. A Villaware comparison to that, would be a regular meat grinder, and it has a much better control over the end products' size. To get chunky things, you would use the pumpkin or salsa screen. Both have much bigger holes compared to the one that comes with the Villaware. My next door neighbor had a yard sale yesterday. Not sure what she made as far as cash, but I did see many people stopping there, as her whole font yard was loaded with stuff to sell. If you make a sauce with the Villaware, they only need a partial cooking before running them through. Its only to soften them some.

When I make apple pies, I peel and slice, and then place the bowl in the microwave for a few minutes to soften them. Then, its allowed to cool a bit, I add the spices and sweetener, along with a little Clear Jel. It gets loaded into a pie crust which was first coated with margerine on the inside bottom. Because the apples are a little softer, I can pile on lots more before placing the top crust on. Once its baked, I don't get a skinny, puny layer of apples that have shrunk to almost nothing. Instead, my apple pies are nice and tall, and just loaded with lots of apples. Sometimes I also add some dried cranberries as a flavor enhancer. MY grandmother used green apples and boiled down some cider to a syrup. She would use a small funnel and pour the apple syrup into the vent hole at the top of the baked pie while it was still hot out of the oven.

Ah! Thanks Ken! Okay, so that's what I was wandering about now, was specifically how it (the Foley) works. Yes, it sounds like there would be quite a lot of cranking with a Foley! And I was contemplating getting the salsa screen for my strainer to get bigger chunks in my sauce anyway, so thanks for confirming that idea.

Thanks, too, for the tips about apple pies! I made my very first one from scratch this past weekend, and though it was quite delicious, it did shrink. I'll try your method this week (I love apple season). Your grandmother's pie sounds yummy.

:)

My grandparents were from Poland and my grandfather was a baker with a bakery next door to their house in Springfiled VT. When we were kids we loved the visits to their house. There was always pleasent smells from the kitchen and we couldn't wait to 'raid' the bakery for small pies, hermits and 'whoopee' pies. In the summer, my grandmother would make big bowls of borsche and grand dad brought in some of his sour rye bread still warm from the bakery next door. Thats where I learned how to make (taste test) a salt brine for the half sour cucumber dills. My grand dad couldn't wait for them and a gallon jar would be gone in just 2-3 days, not even time to refrigerate them.

Ken, I think you should try a Foley before you pass judgment on it! I haven't had the chance to try a villaware yet, but I know my Foley (I think that's what it is) is fantastic for applesauce. As long as the apples are cooked till soft, it's very easy to crank the apples through.

The one my mother had, had only one screen, as you describe, but the one I have, has interchangeable screens so you can vary the texture of the puree that passes through.

Here is a link that might be useful: My foodmill looks kind of like this, but not as fancy

Victrola,
Actually I had two sizes of Foleys and my mom also used them to make apple butter years ago. For me and all the tomatoes I do, I would need many hours of cranking to get the gallons of tomatoes. The Foleys do clog up with skins and hard debris, which will not push through. All they do is pile up on the inside of the screens and when that paddle comes around again, it will just slide over the top. I suppose the Foley is OK for small batches of stuff liek cooked pumpkin, squash, or apples that have been peeled and cored, but for all that extra effort, the Villaware help in that it doens't need to have peels and seeds removed beforehand. My recent garage sale had another buyer for the smaller Foley and it went to $2.00. The bigger one was sold a longe while back for only $3.00. I also sold my very old Victorio model at $3.00. I still have a semi-Victorio, Villaware type made by Back To Basics, but it has the older style shaft that leaks. For the $40 I bought my Villaware for, its saved me many hours of labor when doing tomatoes. I also did red raspberries for a seedless jam and a gallon of juice was complete in less than 5 minutes, totally seedless. Try that with a jelly bag or a Foley...

My apologies Ken; I misunderstood an earlier post where I thought you implied that you had never used a Foley. Still, I don't find that it clogs up much for applesauce. You point out that it clogs up for tomatoes, but for apples, the skins get mushed through. It's just the "blades" (the things that form the core) that get left behind, along with some of the seeds and the stems if you haven't removed them. Definitely no need to peel.

I recall that when I used the Foley it was not passing skins through very well. They seemed to just lie flat inside the strainer and when the paddle passed over them it just pushed most of them around. Seeds didn't go through as mentioned, but that tends to 'lift' the paddle a little and when its raised from seeds, the skins get little force on them.

Here are a couple of photos of the VIllaware and it shows what you see when you pass raw tomatoes through one and just use the crank. From that 'tomato flow' photo you also see a flat pan catching the liquid. This is what I use here, and its about 2-3 inches in height, so it holds a couple of quarts at a time. I use a small bowl (taller) at the end of sieve to catch the waste. The waste is run through a second time and the leftovers are very dry and just LOADED with skins and seeds. The Foley has no easy way to get rid of the seeds, except to scoop them out of the pan.

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Also note that the above photo doesn't show the clear plastic cone extension at the end of the Villaware, which pushes the waste another 4 inches out beyond the conical strainers.

As you can tell, its my favorite when it comes to dealing with 'seedy' fruits..

Is the veggie strainer for the kitchen aid, like the villaware? Do I need the grinder to make the strainer work?
I found both together for 99.99 at Khols!
Brenda

Brenda - the veggie strainer for the KA is very similar to the villaware but there is only one size screen. You don't need the grinder part to use the strainer but they are often sold as a combo unit since they use some of the same parts. If you bought the two boxed seperately, you would have duplicate housings, screw nuts, etc. It's much more economical to buy them kitted together if you might use the grinder. I have the grinder but rarely use it though it does a good job when I do.

Malon

Thanks Malon,
Do they sell seperate screens?
I really wanted it so I could seed and skin my maters and seed black raspberries!
I'm sure I'll learn more uses for it here though!
The grinder my DH would use for grinding deer meat for Jerky!
Brenda

Brenda - As far as I know, they only have the one size screen. I've used mine for blackberries, tomatoes, apples and hot peppers with no problems. Probably other things as well. DW has purchased meat on sale and ground her own hamburger.

Malon

Does anyone know where I can buy a part for my Foley food mill? I need the bottom metal sweep stick with the correct screw attachment. I just noticed this one I bought at a garage sale lacked that but has the spring and a nut to hold on the attachment.. Wow just found this website.. you guys are great with all the recipes and tips.. motivating me for sure

So what is the consensus? Which berry strainer is best? The Squeezo, The Victorio, The Villaware? Visually the Squeezo looks to be the sturdiest, but which one works the best? I have a 2 different foleys, one has multiple screens, and I have a China Cap strainer. I want a berry stainer as I put up over 100 quarts of sauce this year. It sounds like it would make my life alot easier. By the way on Ebay it seems the Squeezo tends to be the most expensive. By the way, check this deal out. Seller didn't know what it was. My computer locked up 2 minutes before this ended. I was about to bid and blank screen. Was I ever mad.lol

Here is a link that might be useful: The deal I missed

Wow, angelstiger, that looks JUST like my old Squeezo. It works like a champ and is all metal, no cheap plastic parts. It does leak around the end of the "auger" and although I have three screens none will take ALL the seeds out of raspberry jam.

Still, it was a great deal. My mother had it stored in her shed and gave it to me. Free. :-)

Annie

That deal you missed isn't a very good one anyway.. It looks like a very old version of a Victorio food strainer and they were very messy, and leaked out the shaft. The latest version is from Villaware and has a wrap around plastic shield to keep spatter down to a minimum. Also, the berry screen, as an option will get all the seeds out of raspberries and so you have a perfect seedless jam. I use it for my tomatoes and the skins and seeds pass out the end, which, on the newer Villaware, is another 4 inches of clear plastic cone to push out the waste even further from the metal conical strainers. The Villaware also has a rubber seal on the cranking shaft that stops any leakage from flowing out where the handle is attached. Cutting big tomatoes in halves and smaller ones are left whole. I can 'crank out' a bushel in less than 10 minutes. Very little effort compared to a Foley and works great even for small bits like for salsa, and even pumpkin. I sold my old Victorio for $5.00 a few years ago, but still have a similar Back To Basics model, that has the older wing nut screen design of the Victorio., but that shaft still leaks when I do watery stuff like tomatoes and even raspberries.

As for the peels of apples not going through the holes in the Foley, I find that even with the Squeezo I have to take the screen/cone off about every half bushel, take a knife and scrape the peels from the inside of the cone. With the Foley I simply cranked it backwards and dumped the peels out, it really wasn't that big a problem.

My secretary went out and bought a new Villaware this year, she says my old Squeezo is better, although it does leak at the handle. She used to borrow it for tomatoes, which is why she bought her own this year. She also has to remove that cone/screen on her new Villaware and scrape the apple peelings out after a certain amount of apples.

My Squeezo is great for applesauce because it just holds so much more and goes faster, but I can't see that it gets any more "sauce" from the apples and it is sure a lot harder to clean all those blasted parts.

Annie

What is the best tool for persimmons? My wife just did 3 or 4 quarts of pulp with a Foley and it took 2 hours.

I think I missed this thread last year. Just want to add that if you look at the amazon.com page for the KA fruit/veg strainer, you will see some reviews by angry people who broke their screen straining blackberries & then realized it was not recommended for that. Malon has done it successfully, so I guess it depends whether you're willing to take a chance when the manufacturer won't supply free replacement parts. I use a Villaware for berries and find it binds sometimes, but with a hand crank I can notice & respond before anything gets broken by a 350W motor. Not dissing the KA though, I have the grinder & make my own hamburger meat and sausage, and it's delicious and free of hidden stoolpigeon corpses. ;-)

Melissa

Hi, all! Hm, I'm looking at the photo of the Villaware, and I'm looking at that clamp. In my kitchen, my counters are 1 7/8" thick, and my kitchen table, except for a very narrow lip, is even thicker. I'm wondering if it'll fit over the counter so I can clamp it down. Maybe I should just get the fruit/veg strainer parts for my Kitchenaid (I already have the grinder) and go with that for now, maybe consider a separate strainer again next year if it doesn't work out with the kitchenaid.

For apple sauce I don't use a strainer. I peel, core and slice and then throw them in the pot with a little water to get them started. Then cook slowly over low heat. If you add apples over time the sauce will be chunky.

Zeuspaul

Yes, it will fit valereee. The clamp opens to probably 3" or so!

Deanna

Deanna, thanks! Hm, I may have to order one of these before tomato season really hits.

Please, lets call this a ROMA or PRAGO TRADE, or WESTON, or BACK TO BASICS, or some other NEWER name they all go under now. VIllaware was just ONE of the older names these are given. Looking at photos (here in many places) and searching for a FOOD strainer gives a LOT of hits.,

An older thread brought back to the top.