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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Ooh, so pleased to see so many of you with steam juicers. I have just bought one from Westfalia and am raring to get juicing. I mainly bought it to make jellys from the juice to save all the straining through jelly bags. I would love to know how to make jam from the left over pulp tho so if anyone can help me with this I would be very grateful.
Hi, I am intrigued and would love to but one as we have crab apples in the woods nearby and a cooking apple tree in the garden. Could you please answer just one question for me? Do you get the same sort of quantity of juice as you do when you drip through a cloth?
Many thanks
Hi just reading some of the comments, i am a manager of a pressing company nr canterbury kent, family run business and we do a lot of mini contracts for people who have there own apple trees and either want juice or cider.
any more info needed email me at binka1000@hotmail.com
Hi, just managed to get hold of a fruit steamer, thought i’d have a go at making wine with it. Anybody have any idea on what ratio of juice to water per Demi-john i should use?
Hello,
I’ve just ordered the version of the steamer that is available from Amazon (which has just been reduced again to £60). I am really looking forward to using it so I really need to thank you so much for blogging about it and making my preserving life so much easier.
I was wondering is there any books out there I could buy on how to use them. These things always come with a selection of uses but its always good to have something a bit bulkier to read.
Thanks
Many thanks for your advice – can’t wait for the spring now!
Hedgewitch
I have just been given a Beka juicer for Christmas! How do you do rosehips? Just chuck the whole lot in, hairs and all? And how do you know how much water to put in the bottom pan? Am also puzzled about sugar to fruit ratio for cordials/syrups. It will have to be a fair bit to ensure preservation I presume? Final question – can you do elderflower cordial, and if so does the pasteurisation process prolong the shelf life of the cordial. Stop me now! Am very excited about this as you can tell, I’m sure!
Hi Hedgewitch
Lucky you – what a super present. Re rosehips just bung them in whole. I put a fair ammount of water in the base but remove the juice when the hips have gome soft and pulpy – if you leave them in too long you’ll get more ‘juice’ but it will be thin and take ages to set. I have never tried making a cordial all at the same time in my steamer so I can’t help you on that front. I make my elderflower cordial in the conventional way – seeping in a large container. The pasterisation should prolong the shelf life of the cordial but if you use corks it can happily store for ages in a cool dry place – fermentation will happen but we like the buzz of year old EFC at the cottage!
I’ve just used my new Beka steamer to produce the fruit juice for my first cider – you can follow the process here…
http://hollygrovekitchen.blogspot.com/2010/10/juicing-fruits.html
And it was this Cottage Smallholder post that inspired my purchase.
I have just aquired a Beka fruit juice steamer. The instuctions say to reduce the added sugar because the process extracts the maximum natural sugars but does not make it clear by how much. Is there a “rule of thumb”? I’ve had very mixed results.
Hi Jane
I have no idea but I know that they are used to extract juice for wine so I don’t see why not.