Food mill?

Our old Foley stainless steel has become prone to rust (chromium level down I guess), and we want to replace. Lots of newer one come with multiple disks, do people find that useful?

[Robin Garr]

I still have our old one, Dale, so I can't testify. I'm looking on with interest, though, since ours is looking a little rusty too.

Sorry, Dale, I haven't owned a food mill in 30 years.

Jeff, it's 90% used for tomatoes at our place (Betsy likes her applesauce chunkier), occasionally for potatoes, but for that one use it seems to do the job much better than the electric alternatives.

We ended up ordering an Alisa model that a friend recommended and got good online reviews.

How often do you really use one? What have I been missing?

Thanks

[Robin Garr]

John, our food mill gets about the same use as Dale's: Its primary purpose is to turn a bountiful summer tomato garden into thick, fresh sauce that can be frozen for use all winter. There is no better tool to quickly separate rich pulp from seeds and skin. I've also tried it for mashed potatoes, and it does make a smooth, creamy mash, but I'm happy with an old-fashioned hand masher and a slightly more textured product for that dish. And we rarely do applesauce. So, tomato sauce, but given our good-size urban backyard garden and our love for heirloom 'maters, that's more than enough to justify keeping it around.