Friday, September 18, 2009

Food mill

I had it in my brain that I did not want to peel the tomatoes I froze, they peel easily enough but it takes time so I decided to can my tomatoes.

However that was after I froze a whole bunch of them...

I decided that a food mill would work great. Just plop the defrosted tomatoes into the food mill, give it a couple of turns and I would get the pulp without the skin.

I looked high and low but a food mill was nowhere to be found in my little town. I was quite sure I could find one in Vancouver but it would have to wait. I was not going to spend money and time of ferries just for a food mill but I travel to Vancouver every once in awhile for work so I enlisted my mom's help. Both my dad and my mom would look in some local garage sales and buy one if found.
I was in Vancouver the day before and guess what my mom found..a food mill. Her food mill. It has a bit of history as well. She got the food mill from her friend who brought it over from Italy many years ago. Her friend decided to move back to Italy and that's when my mom got it. I remember putting beans through it to make soup for my dad and it made the best mashed potatoes, my mom thinks it's about 50 years old, I wonder if my electric food processor will be around in 50 years, I doubt it.

Well now I have it..I sure hope I can do it justice..
That's not rust, just the signs of a well used kitchen utensil.
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Only one blade but it worked well all these years on so many different foods that one will just have to do.

5 comments:

DangAndBlast! said...

My mother used one of those to make all my baby food (my parents had no money back then, so I was earth baby before it was trendy), and still uses it for making applesauce. I actually got one as a wedding present! Haven't thought about it in a year... should make stuff!

Scrappy quilter said...

What a neat kitchen tool and so much history. Enjoy!!

Powell River Books said...

I have some wonderful old kitchen items from my grandmother. They are still in a box from our move north. Maybe I should take a peak and see what I find. I know there are two old meat grinders in there. They weigh a ton!

We had to head south to bring Mom home for a bit and for me to head to Los Angeles to work for a week. That is going to be a HUGE culture shock, not to mention scary driving on the freeways after all this time. - Margy

Betty said...

I have made lots of applesauce with a foley food mill,other things too.They are a great tool.

The Hobbit said...

Love the tool and the history.Mine looks like a dunce cap upside downwith a wooden mallet shaped like an exclamation point.I don't know the official name but,foley is the correct name for yours.I see your up to your eyebrows in preserving also.