Hand powered appliances

[mrs.puff]

I have a coffee grinder that I use for grinding coffee bean and for grinding up dried mushrooms. It's "handy". I also have my granny's nut chopper. You know, one of those little jars with the plunger that you push down on to chop the nuts.

I suppose I could get all Laura Ingalls Wilder and grind wheat in my coffee grinder, just like they did in the "Long Winter".

 

[ORChick]

I have a Squeezo puree-ing device - the food (raw tomatoes, cooked apples or pumpkin, things like that) go in a big hopper, and are pushed down into a turning screw that forces the puree through a screen, and spits the skins, seeds etc. out the other end - a rather more complicated Foley food mill. Wonderful for apple sauce or pureed tomatoes or pumpkin for pie. I also have a bunch of other hand things - can opener, whisks, pasta machine, mezzaluna (half moon blade used to chop herbs, nuts, etc), ricer, Spaetzle maker, and, of course, good knives, and lots of wooden spoons and rubber spatulas. I really dislike the noise of the power machines, and only use them when needed - I have a food processor, stand mixer, blender, and find them invaluable for some things, but when I can I use the quieter option. I also have a motorized meat grinder, and will be getting a handcrank one soon - I can't stand the noise, and I don't think the results are as good. Its just hard for my frugal heart to replace it while it still works . However, the motor (after something like thirty years) is not sounding so good anymore, so I've started looking for a good metal handcrank version.

 

[sylvie]

I have a Squeezo puree-ing device - the food (raw tomatoes, cooked apples or pumpkin, things like that) go in a big hopper, and are pushed down into a turning screw that forces the puree through a screen, and spits the skins, seeds etc. out the other end - a rather more complicated Foley food mill. Wonderful for apple sauce or pureed tomatoes or pumpkin for pie. I also have a bunch of other hand things - can opener, whisks, pasta machine, mezzaluna (half moon blade used to chop herbs, nuts, etc), ricer, Spaetzle maker, and, of course, good knives, and lots of wooden spoons and rubber spatulas. I really dislike the noise of the power machines, and only use them when needed - I have a food processor, stand mixer, blender, and find them invaluable for some things, but when I can I use the quieter option. I also have a motorized meat grinder, and will be getting a handcrank one soon - I can't stand the noise, and I don't think the results are as good. Its just hard for my frugal heart to replace it while it still works . However, the motor (after something like thirty years) is not sounding so good anymore, so I've started looking for a good metal handcrank version.

I have a squeezo that I put roasted tomatoes and peppers through. I make a tomato vegetable soup which required putting peppers, celery, onions, and carrots through, but when food processors came along I switched the harder vegs to that. It was quite a workout to grind carrots but can be done with the squeezo!