A food mill (also called passatutto, purée sieve, moulinette, mouli légumes, or passe-vite) is a food preparation utensil for mashing and sieving soft foods. Typically, a food mill consists of three parts: a bowl, a bottom plate with holes like those in a colander, and a crank fitted with a bent metal blade which crushes the food and forces it through the holes in the bottom plate as the crank is turned. The bottom plate may be a permanent part of the device, or interchangeable plates with different hole sizes may be supplied. Three corrugated feet on the base, or two ears on the rim plus the handle, fit on the rim of a cooking pot and hold the mill in position over it.
Food mills are usually made of stainless steel or aluminum. The bowl may be plastic, particularly for smaller sizes marketed for preparing baby food. Older "heirloom" utensils were usually made from tinplate.
This piece of kitchen equipment, of long-proven efficiency, bridges the gap between a sieve (or tamis, china cap, or chinoise) and the electric blender or food processor. Its function is similar to that of a potato ricer or "hob" type of spätzle maker.
Uses of a food mill include removing the seeds from cooked tomatoes, removing pulp or larger pieces from foods (creating apple jelly or any type of purée), and making mashed potatoes or spätzle. A metal sieve used with a wooden spoon or pestle may be found more effective for puréeing fibrous foodstuffs such as marmalade oranges.
Famous quotes containing the words food and/or mill:
“Taking food alone tends to make one hard and coarse. Those accustomed to it must lead a Spartan life if they are not to go downhill. Hermits have observed, if for only this reason, a frugal diet. For it is only in company that eating is done justice; food must be divided and distributed if it is to be well received.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)
“The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement.”
—John Stuart Mill (1806–1873)