What do you do with your food mill?

[Denise]

Someone gave my mom a food mill, she doesn't want it and has offered it to me. I have no idea what a food mill is used for! Can anyone give me some ideas?
TIA!

[jtoepfert100]

I don't have one but I've read that they are excellent for mashing potatoes. I think you can also use them when making homemade applesauces and the like. I think it enables you to cook the apples with the peels and then just run them through the food mill.

[shscharles]

You can also dump a can of tomatoes in the food mill and make your own tomato sauce. It basically purees and separates out any solids of any food you choose. As jtoepfert said, it is really good for mashed potatoes (not unlike a circular ricer) and applesauce. Before the food processor, I used it to make baby foods...until I got a blender. :)

[gertdog]

I use mine for applesauce, homemade tomato sauce- I like that I don't need to peel and seed the apples or skin the tomatoes since those are screened out by the food mill.

I use it any time I want a perfectly smooth puree- for soups and sauces.

That said, it doesn't get a ton of use- I only do applesauce once a year, ditto the tomato sauce- and maybe 3-4 times a year for soups and sauces. But it's still worth having IMO.

[Grace]

I second everything Gertdog said!

[dcollier]

I use my food mill when I'm canning jams.

Denise

[Lrimerman]

We make applesauce in it all the time. We love having one, although mine was a garage sale find a lot of years ago and we need to replace it as it is having a hard time turning now.

It is as others said good for tomatoes or anything you don't want to have to peel or seed and want smooth/strained.

Lisa

[PamN]

Potatoes! For mashed potatoes and gnocchi. Also mashed sweet potatoes. Roasted eggplant for baba ganouj. Winter squash. Baby food. Really good for soups like green pea soup when you don't want flecks of skin, and food mills don't add air like processors and blenders, so your end product has a richer color.

[RivCook]

great at removing tomato skins; ricing potatoes or hard boiled eggs, even. Puree soups. Since it's done by hand, you don't get the glue that develops using nascar blenders or food processors. Store it with the sieves.

[fci5767]

Since it's done by hand, you don't get the glue that develops using nascar blenders or food processors.

I don't have a food mill, but I'd like to get one for my classroom.

But what's a nascar blender?

[RivCook]

> nascar blender?

super charged "tool time" blender -- remember tim allen on home improvement? :D

[Denise]

Thanks for all the replies! I don't think I'd use it much, I tend to like things chunky instead of perfectly pureed! I think that's why mom doesn't want it, she makes a lot of homemade applesauce, but we all like it to have good sized apple chunks.

[heavy hedonist]

Food mills are also the best for making the meal on the table good for older babies-- just put your lightly seasoned foods through that, and it's perfect for children in the 9+ months range ( or earlier, depending on tooth development.) It's also good for making a smooth puree out of a single ingredient, like sweet potato, for babies just starting solids. And that means not having to mess up a huge blender pitcher for a half cup of baby food that is hard to scrape out of the bottom.