My New Kitchen Gadget

Over on Chickens in the Road a discussion got started about this new old fangled way of juicing fruits and vegetables. I like a new old gadget so I jumped in feet first and ordered one from Amazon.

This thing is officially known as a Steam Juicer. I called it "new old" because it is one of those things that somebody's Grandma brought over from the old country, but somehow never made it on the store shelves in the general store and now finally is getting some spot light. At least in my very limited circle.

The way it works is that water boils in the bottom section. The steam rises through the cone of the middle section -imagine an angel food pan - and heats the top section which is basically a colander. The heat bursts the cells of the fruit, such as the 10 pounds of grapes that I started with for my initial steam juicing experiment.

The juice collects in the middle section and is then drained into jars through the hose.
FabHub found some half gallon jars over in Grandma's stuff and brought them over for me to use. I ran them through the dishwasher and filled both of them.
The one on the right is the first one that I filled it was a little tart. The left jar was quite a bit sweeter so I will be mixing them. I plan on using this juice mixed with Sprite and served over ice at a picnic next weekend. It should be refreshing.

Now the grody part. Remember those 10 pounds of grapes?

After an hour of steaming they looked like this. They really had nothing juice like left to give.I could have put them in the dehydrator and had white raisins in about 20 minutes.

Instead, the pigs are getting a tasty dessert. They have recently discovered surplus vegetables so fruit should be welcome too.

Next experiment will be to make some tomato sauce. I figure that cooking them down about half way will give me some nice tomato stock for crock pot dinners and the sauce I want without all that time spent evaporating.

So that is my new kitchen gadget. FabHub was pretty impressed with it too. We may need more shelves, or the stored jars might end up full of tasty stuff.

Don't worry, you know I will share the story of the tomatoes.