oh, waiting for an answer....i might want one too!

I'm not Dawn, but that is what I bought, the price I paid, and the company I bought it from. Mine is still in the box but should get a work-out in a couple of months.

Seedmama,

The answers to your questions are yes, yes, yes and yes.

Yes, it is what I have.

Yes, you will be happy.

Yes, it is a good price--in fact, the best price I could find when I was shopping for mine. It is the same company from which I purchased mine. It is exactly the same deal I got with the four screens included. It is a better deal than you'll find anyplace else. You will love it!

I haven't diced a tomato since I bought it, except if I am just dicing up one tomato to go with tacos or something.

Finally, yes, you won't have to boiling water skin them either. Here's a helpful tip: if you don't have enough tomatoes from one harvest to make a batch of salse or salsa, just wash your freshly-picked tomatoes, throw them in a zip-lock freezer bag, and toss them in the freezer. Once you've accumulated enough, you can make a batch. And, as a bonus, when you thaw tomatoes that have been frozen, the skin slips right off.

Another tip, after you run the tomatoes through the first time, run all the 'leftover' tomato waste product and peel through a second time. You'll be surprised how much more tomato you get with that second run through the mill.

Before I bought the food mill, I made about 30 to 50 jars of salsa a year because that's all I had the energy to make. All that skinning and dicing, you know....

After buying it and using it, I just kept asking myself why didn't I buy one of these years and years ago?

I don't remember how many jars of salsa I made last year, but it was a ridiculous amount. I know that by the end of August, I'd canned over 80 jars, and I canned more in Sept., Oct., Nov. and December (the December batch was because we had run out). I think I canned about 140 jars of salsa in 2010. Obviously, we give away a lot of it.

Dawn

Is it better than the kitchenaid mixer attachment?

Okiepokie,

I don't have that attachment for my Kitchenmaid mixer so cannot answer that question.

In previous discussions on the Harvest Forum in past years, the folks who have the Kitchenmaid attachment seemed to be perfectly happy with its performance in the processing of tomatoes. So, if you have the Kitchenaid attachment and are happy with it, I can't imagine that you'd "need" a roma food mill.

However, in the past some folks stated that they preferred the Roma when processing berries because it has a berry screen that screens out the seeds. Apparently the KA strainer may not strain out the tiny berry seeds. The last time I read KA attachment discussions at the Harvest Forum was a couple of years ago. If you want to read them, you can go to the Harvest Forum and do a search for previous threads on this topic. Likely you'll find several previous threads there.

Dawn

Very good to know about the berry screen. I've always just used my Foley mill and Chinaman's hat to smoosh what needs smooshing but we just bought & planted a dozen blackberries. They're thornless so we'll actually be able to harvest a bunch without major blood loss. I'm already looking forward to (seedless) blackberry jelly!

By the way, I have some sort of attachment doohickey for my KA but I have no idea what it is. I'll have to pull it out and see if it's one of those mill thingies.

Diane

Thanks... I have neither of them at the moment and am planning on trying my hand at canning for the first time this year and thought it might be useful to get one. I was just trying to decide which of them would be a better deal since the KA attachment is $10 cheaper... but if its a rubbish attachment (some of them are sad to say) then its $50 wasted. I will go and look.

Thanks for the responses. I am going to order this week!

I delayed my order until today. The price just dropped by another $6, to $54 including the 4 piece accessory kit. With shipping my total was $66.55.

If anyone is in the market for a chum grinder with cutting board, they've got a smokin' hot deal on those this week, both manual and electric.

What's a chum grinder you say? Here's what the website says: Catch More Fish!!!!
Turns your Bait Fish into an effective chum slick in seconds! Simply drop bait fish into the hopper and turn the handle for fresh chum instantly.

Eat up, ya'll!

Okiepokie - I have a KitchenAid with most attachments and YES...IT'S WAY better than that. Although, don't discount the KitchenAid. I use the grinder for cukes & green tomatoe chopping for relishes, etc. This won't do that.

I have one of the old mills that John Deere produced in the early 80's....courtesy of my dear friend and former member here, Ilene. It has ALL metal parts...and I dearly, dearly LOVE it. Not only do I have her as a friend, but I have this wonderful machine that makes my life so much easier!

Seedmama - I know we talked about this so YOU GO, GIRL! Your Dad is going to love him some Blackberry Jam! Saves us a few miles and many minutes too. Oh....and the sweet taters are all planted tonite!

Paula

Seedmama, I think I'll pass on the chum grinder, and as soon as I saw the word 'chum', I knew what it would be. Ugh.

I bet you'll love it. With it, I can easily make 4 batches of Annie's Salsa in one day, and in the old days before I bought it, I never ever would have attempted that. My limit likely would have been two batches of salsa.

I have green peppers on the Chichen Itza, so I think it likely I'll be making the first batch of Habanero Gold sometime in July. I'm kind of ready for that. Hibernating inside to beat the heat is making me lazy.

I haven't made any fruit jam or jelly or butter or spiced butter this year. I think I'm still on burnout from last year!

Dawn

Now that I have a new Roma, I probably won't have enough tomatoes this year to give it a real test. I can't believe how many plants I have with so little fruit.

Dawn, I ate one jar of jelly and have made myself save the other one but I think it's about time to open it. I love that stuff.

It's here! It's here! Now all I need is tomatoes that aren't riddled with bugs, blossom end rot and sunscald. Woo hoo!

I think I can, I think I can...