All About Food Grinders

How food grinders work and which models are the best

A food grinder, also known as a food mill, is a kitchen device that grinds and purees food using perforated disks and a hand-turned crank. Food grinders are used with meat, cheese, spices, and other foods. Food mills are also often used to make items such as applesauce or especially baby food, as parents seek to avoid feeding their young children processed food or food that is too difficult to eat.

How food grinders work

Food grinders work by manually separating the bones, seeds, and skin from the other parts of whatever food you're grinding. Food grinders are great for making creams, juices, homemade ketchup (commercial ketchup has a very high sodium content), and many other dishes.

Before putting fruits or vegetables in a food mill, it's recommended that you blanch them. This is done by dipping the food in boiling water or steaming it. The food needs to be soft so that it goes easily through the holes in your food mill's straining disk.

You also need to be sure that the straining disk you use is appropriately sized for the food you're grinding. Larger holes might be suitable for making salsa or a meat sauce, while smaller holes will prevent fruit or vegetable seeds from slipping through and into a puree.

For best results, it's important to keep food grinders clean. We recommend that you not operate a food grinder or food mill unless food is inside. This will prevent the metal parts from scraping against one another and wearing down.

Which food grinders to buy

Food grinders are useful and very inexpensive kitchen appliances. Food mills are also better than food processors or blenders at removing seeds and skin from your fruit and vegetables.

Here are a few food grinders we recommend for your kitchen:

Cuisipro

The Cuisipro 4-quart stainless steel food mill gets our highest recommendation. It will cost you more than $70, but it's a durable, high quality appliance that will produce great dishes for years to come.

The Cuisipro food grinder is dishwasher-safe and comes with 3 straining disks with holes of 2, 3, and 4 millimeters. It's also nicely sized at 9 inches wide by 4 3/4 inches high. And since it's a manual food grinder, you can reverse direction if food gets stuck.

Mirro

Mirro makes several different models of food grinders. Sizes vary from 2 quarts to 3 1/2 quarts to 5 quarts, and can be found for around $30. Mirro food grinders are stainless steel and make simple, cost-effective additions to any kitchen.

KidCo

If you're primarily interested in a food grinder for your baby, the KidCo food mill is a winner. It's only about $12 and comes with a handy plastic tote for feeding when you're away from home. A food grinder is ideal for helping your baby gradually work up to eating solid foods.

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