Customer Reviews

Roma Tomato Strainer 4 Piece Accessory Kit

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I like using my Roma food mill for tomatoes but wanted to be able to remove blackberry seeds, so I bought this kit, not really planning to use the other screen sizes. But you never know, and it was cheaper to buy them as a set instead of buying just one screen and later deciding I might want another one.

As it turned out, the day it arrived I had just picked a huge amount of really small Roma tomatoes and thought I'd try out the salsa screen. I usually just chop up the ingredients by hand for the chunky texture I like, but if this gizmo worked, what a time saver it would be!

At first I was a bit disappointed. The pulp didn't look very chunky. In fact it looked a lot like the pulp from the regular tomato screen, but with seeds left in. But when I made the salsa it turned out to be just right. In fact my DH liked it better than the 'regular' kind I make! Maybe because the flavors blended better with the softer texture. Note - I ran the 'discard' pulp through again, the skins and hard stem ends were removed beautifully by the way, and got a LOT more pulp, but twice through was all it needed.

On to the berries! I had two quarts of canned wild blackberries that I'd been saving but hadn't used because I don't like all those seeds. I've removed the seeds before by pressing the pulp through a strainer and it just wasn't worth the effort, time or mess, so I had high hopes for this screen.

The berries were canned in their own juice, so I strained that out first. However the first 10 - 12 times I ran the pulp through the mill all that came out was more juice! Plus the juice leaked out from the handle and dripped on the floor. I guess it wasn't made to handle that much juice? (no pun intended)

I lost count of how many times I ran the pulp through but I did finally start getting some very nice, completely seedless, useable pulp. I kept running the pulp through until it was entirely squeezed dry. In fact until it was so dry that the pressure popped the screen off of the mill! I wasn't real happy about that, but at least I knew it was time to stop!

The salsa screen I would give a score of 5, the berry screen a 4, and I haven't tried the squash screen or grape press. I'll try using the berry screen with fresh berries, that might make a difference.
And overall it was much easier than pushing the blackberries through a strainer! Maybe not a timesaver but much less work and cleanup.

Other notes -
The screens were easy to clean with a bottle brush.
Each screen came with its own thin, clear plastic 'washer' already in it, which I didn't expect and didn't see with the first one so I almost lost it when it dropped out and on to the floor! But I like having the extras, just glad I saw it fall and rescued it before the cats found a new toy!

This is an affordable device that enables me to make things we love like crab apple butter that do not even exist in stores. It is work, no denying that and it will take time to produce finished product, but how else to get diamonds or gold but with efforts? My thinking is that I have no better use of my time than to do this for my family's enjoyment. Putting the strainer together is not hard, cranking the lever is no chore and it moves smoothly with steady motion, clean up is facilitated by complete breakdown of unit all parts reachable. I think I gave it one of the hardest jobs with the crab apples so I am definitely looking forward to using it with muscadine grapes next month for making jams and jellies!

This accessory kit is great. I used the salsa strainer to make dice tomatos for canning to use in soup. Just washed the tomatoes cut off bad spots and cranked away. My normal routine of blanching, peeling, and chopping just got cut in halve. Two thing to note. Stems need be removed when using the salsa stainer and I ran my peelings thru twice to get the good out.

This kit makes canning simple,easy and fun!!!My friends and family think i'm such a pro!I wish i had these accessories 30 years ago.

These strainers work great! I used the berry one to make two batches of raspberry jelly and that turned out beautiful. Then I used the salsa one to make a big batch of salsa and that also worked great! But you can't run the peppers and onions through it, just the tomatoes and tomatiloes. I am planning on using the pumpkin one soon because it is almost time to can some fresh pumpkin.

I would highly recommend the Roma strainer and the accessory kit for any canning enthusiast because it does a great job!

This product works ok. Wouldn't say it was that great for the money. Having to run product back through the machine twice or three times is or was not the greatest invention. Mom's old pistle and strainer works better.

I was disappointed in this product. I recently lost my Victorio Strainer in a house fire. I needed to replace it to make apple sauce. I ordered this Back to Basics version because it looked the same in the picture.
This one is cheaply put together. The plastic parts are thinner then older models. The different strainers snap on instead of screw on. This makes me worried that when I'm really cranking on it and the pressure is on the strainer is going to snap off. Beware that if you have an older model, even a Back to Basics model, your screw on strainers won't fit.

This product is great. My wife and I were able to remove the seeds from the tomato's with this product. So much faster then when we put the tomato's in boiling water then into the ice water before peeling. This product does all in one step.

I love this accessory kit to my food mill. If you are into gardening and canning, the food mill and this accessory kit makes things much easier and saves a lot of time!

This product worked well and is making short work of our tomato crop this year.