It's Squeezo Time!

[Ysarex]

Ripe tomatoes wait for no man. So I'm canning tomatoes today. I use a sieve to separate the tomato pulp from the skins and seeds. It takes a fair amount of torque so I set it up on an old library cart I have in the basement (it can also get messy). Squeezo is one of the original brands that make the food mill. I have an old Squeezo but today I was using my Victorio (picture). I just like saying Squeezo.

Jars are in the canner right now and building pressure.

Joe

 

[jowensphoto]

I want one of these!!! I just canned for the season too. Three kinds of salsa and pepper jelly. We dehydrate peppers and grind them in a coffee grinder for spices.

 

[Ysarex]

I want one of these!!! I just canned for the season too. Three kinds of salsa and pepper jelly. We dehydrate peppers and grind them in a coffee grinder for spices.

My wife does most of the dehydrating. We've got an expanded Nesco dehydrator. We do peppers too and a lot of fruit rolls. I haven't tried grinding the peppers in a coffee grinder -- interesting idea. I'm the canner.

The food mill is indispensable if you have a lot to do. I'm actually headed out right now to pick what I hope will be the last tomato batch for the season. The mill in the photo is a Victorio: Victorio Food Strainer - VKP250 which we've used for going on 20 years now -- reasonable cost and good performance. I've got a couple different sieves for it and process fruits as well as tomatoes. Just finished a batch of apple butter. Crab apples processed through the Victorio.

The Squeezo is still made: Squeezo Strainer | The Original Food and Tomato Mill but costs a lot more. I actually have an original Squeezo from the 1940s that I got from an old couple who threw it in when I bought a few dozen of their old jars. I haven't used it because it's missing a part and the Victorio works so well, but some day I'm going to get it fired up. If you do get one here's a tip that took me too long to learn. When it's time to clean the sieve the solution is an old toothbrush.

Joe

 

[jowensphoto]

I want one of these!!! I just canned for the season too. Three kinds of salsa and pepper jelly. We dehydrate peppers and grind them in a coffee grinder for spices.

My wife does most of the dehydrating. We've got an expanded Nesco dehydrator. We do peppers too and a lot of fruit rolls. I haven't tried grinding the peppers in a coffee grinder -- interesting idea. I'm the canner.

The food mill is indispensable if you have a lot to do. I'm actually headed out right now to pick what I hope will be the last tomato batch for the season. The mill in the photo is a Victorio: Victorio Food Strainer - VKP250 which we've used for going on 20 years now -- reasonable cost and good performance. I've got a couple different sieves for it and process fruits as well as tomatoes. Just finished a batch of apple butter. Crab apples processed through the Victorio.

The Squeezo is still made: Squeezo Strainer | The Original Food and Tomato Mill but costs a lot more. I actually have an original Squeezo from the 1940s that I got from an old couple who threw it in when I bought a few dozen of their old jars. I haven't used it because it's missing a part and the Victorio works so well, but some day I'm going to get it fired up. If you do get one here's a tip that took me too long to learn. When it's time to clean the sieve the solution is an old toothbrush.

Joe

Did you use the crab apples for the apple butter? I didn't know you could actually eat them (or that they are indeed apples)! So cool.

 

[Ysarex]

I want one of these!!! I just canned for the season too. Three kinds of salsa and pepper jelly. We dehydrate peppers and grind them in a coffee grinder for spices.

My wife does most of the dehydrating. We've got an expanded Nesco dehydrator. We do peppers too and a lot of fruit rolls. I haven't tried grinding the peppers in a coffee grinder -- interesting idea. I'm the canner.

The food mill is indispensable if you have a lot to do. I'm actually headed out right now to pick what I hope will be the last tomato batch for the season. The mill in the photo is a Victorio: Victorio Food Strainer - VKP250 which we've used for going on 20 years now -- reasonable cost and good performance. I've got a couple different sieves for it and process fruits as well as tomatoes. Just finished a batch of apple butter. Crab apples processed through the Victorio.

The Squeezo is still made: Squeezo Strainer | The Original Food and Tomato Mill but costs a lot more. I actually have an original Squeezo from the 1940s that I got from an old couple who threw it in when I bought a few dozen of their old jars. I haven't used it because it's missing a part and the Victorio works so well, but some day I'm going to get it fired up. If you do get one here's a tip that took me too long to learn. When it's time to clean the sieve the solution is an old toothbrush.

Joe

Did you use the crab apples for the apple butter? I didn't know you could actually eat them (or that they are indeed apples)! So cool.

Yes. There's all kinds of different varieties of crab apples. Some are inedible but others are great -- just taste them. Problem with using crab apples is processing because they're small. To get enough to make it worth while you end up with a lot of apples. It's too much work to try and peal and core them. But boil them whole and then just run them through the food mill and it separates the skins and seeds. They make wonderful apple butter.

Back in from picking tomatoes: 62.5 pounds. I know what I'm doing for the next two days.

Joe

 

[snowbear]

Did you use the crab apples for the apple butter? I didn't know you could actually eat them (or that they are indeed apples)! So cool.

I bet you could also feed them to horses.

 

[jowensphoto]

Did you use the crab apples for the apple butter? I didn't know you could actually eat them (or that they are indeed apples)! So cool.

I bet you could also feed them to horses.

Lol, I bet! My friend is back at the farm in a few weeks. Hoping for an early snow lol

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

Dehydrating tomatoes is a great way to keep and be able to use tomatoes year round. The dehydration process intensifies the flavor. I like tearing the pieces into small bits and adding them to pizza dough I make.

 

[Gary A.]

We get tomatoes all year round ... they definitely thin out in Jauaray and February, but I've never canned any. We have a dehydrator which is collecting dust. Easier just to give the extra food away. I air dry peppers and use a molcajete or a specialized chili grinder. The chili grinder is nice, it looks like a regular peppercorn grinder but designed to chew up whole peppers. We have peppers of all sorts all year round. I use them in nearly everything. Yesterday I made a flatbread and the crust was stuffed with literally fistfuls of peppers and herbs. I like sayin' "Squeezo" also.