Fruit steamers are a brilliant addition to any busy kitchen
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Kitchen equipment | 47 comments
Photo: Lakeland fruit steamer
For years I longed for a Vigo fruit press to process our apples, pears and fruit for wine, juices and cordials. They are beautiful objects but too expensive to justify occasional use.
Then one lucky day last year, Ronald Hayles left a comment about the wonders of the Mahu Liisa.
I had never heard of this type of extraction steamer before but they clearly would be very useful for processing juices. Basically these special steamers extract fruit juice using steam, this also pasteurises the juice which can be drawn off into sterilised bottles and heat processed. Cordials can be made by layering fruit and sugar and drawn off in the same way. The juice produced is pure and clear and doesn’t have to be dripped through muslin for hours before making jellies. In fact Ronald also steams chickens, hams and produces great stock. I was in love with this versatile steamer until I spotted the price £125.00. Argggh.
Then Pamela noticed that Lakeland were selling their own steamer at half price for £36.20. I ordered it and it has made an enormous difference to the production of wine and preserves at the cottage. They seem to taste better too – something in the steaming process seems to enhance the flavours. Last year I made very few as I just didn’t have the time. This year our larder shelves are groaning with produce that took a fraction of the normal time to produce.
The bad news is that Lakeland has sold out of their steamers. I did see this BEKA steamer on Amazon discounted by a third to just under £90 with free shipping. If you are travelling to France I believe that they are much cheaper out there.
Update: I’ve found this link to the instruction manual/cookbook of the Mahu Liisa. Also I’ve discovered that Westfalia are selling a 15 l Multi-purpose Pan. The Westfalia save 10% might still be valid (SAVE10).
Update: January 2011 Westfalia are selling a Stainless Steel Juicer, 9 Litre for just £49.99!
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Can the apple juice acquired from that be used to make cider, or would I be best to press?
thanks
Jane
Hi Jackie
Yes, it would be perfect for rosehips. Thanks for the tip.
Hi Joanna
Thirty quid! Lucky you.
Hi Claudine
I can’t understand why they are so much cheaper in France?
Hi Native Zebra,
Wow, you got a real bargain.
Hi wendyjh
A lot of councils have public presses for use in the harvesting season. I’ve heard that there’s one in Cambridge. Might be worth ringing your local council.
Hi Ronald
I’d never heard of these until last year.
Hi Jo
Yes I can’t believe how good these are. I’ve made some great jellies and fruit cheeses using the leftover pulp.
I have just inherited one of these fruit/juice steamers from my Danish mother in law in Danish its called a “Tutti Frutti ” i have made apple and plum juice and its fantastic !! very easy and no peeling or de pipping needed i would deffinately reccomend it !!
We’ve got this in our house when I was young. I didn’t know what it was called then. But I can’t see it now.
A slight aside – does anyone know if its possible to hire (or borrow) a fruit press. Am looking into producing apple juice from the surplus of apples on my tree and dont really want to go to the expense of buying a new fruit press (they are over £100 on Vigo)
I picked up my Lakeland Steamer last year reduced from £80 to a whopping £19.99 from their store in Guildford , the juice it provides for cordials is just heaven.
You mean like this one…
In France, they are available from most agricultural coop shops and most supermarkets.
I bought mine here in Latvia at around the £30 mark but so far have only used it for steaming my veg ready for the freezer – not enough fruit this year for cordials but we will get there sometime, I am determined to get some fruit on the piece of land we working on. Now I just have to find out where I can get some good quality bushes from
like this one
http://tinyurl.com/kkjk8k
ooh we’ve got an ancient one of these, disrespectfully referred to by the children as the maloola mahaha – wonderful thing, extracts the juice from rosehips without running the risk of choking on the hairs. :0)