[mandycharlie]

I'm thinking about purchasing a passata machine, but really need to find out more about them.

How do they work?
Do they really work well?
Is it worth the cost?

I have planted about thirty tomato plants, (i quite like tomatoes )  so do you think it would save me alot of time.

I do have a super dooper juicer, that would seperate skin and pips too, but that really does make it all into a juice.  

What would be the difference with a passata machine?

[flowerlady]

Best place for these is Seeds of Italy ... got the jars too .. the whole 9 yards    

[David.]

Best place for these is Seeds of Italy

Mine arrived last week by Royal Mail only a few days after ordering and selecting the buget £1.50 carriage option. Also bought the herb chopper (only to find one in a charity shop the same day).

My local garden centre is having a Chilli & Tomato Growers Festival over the Aug Bank Hol weekend - "All you ever need to know about growing, cooking and eating chillies & tomatoes", so I might have some pasta sauce making (and tomato drying) questions.

[flowerlady]

ooo do tell where in Bucks is the nursery  

[mandycharlie]

Excuse me, "cough"  

could anyone answer my actual queries....

[little sweetpeas]

I do know some one that got one last year her feelings were that it just made things less messy but she could have just used her magicmix processer.

It is meant to seperate the skins and seeds. Personally It would be nice to have as a present but I wouldn't buy one - and like you I have 35 tomato plants growing strong, some being grown just for pasta sauces.

[flowerlady]

:oops:  apologies

How do they work?

  A bit like an old hand mincer but they are able to separate skin and pips away from the flesh.

Do they really work well?

  I think so.  

Is it worth the cost?

 Deffinately, the time saved is staggering, and the amount of toms it can process in an hour more than I grow!!    :roll:  
Don't think 25 quid a bad investment.  It can also puree other fruit and veg  

[WG.]

I went for an old-fashioned Mouli mill.  They are great.
http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?p=32478#32478

[vegging out]

This is the cheapest place i've found for the passata machine,same one as Seeds of Italy are selling but 7 or 8 quid cheaper. www.tempsl.co.uk and the ref. number is 6621 to order online.

 

[David.]

It appears indentical to the one just bought from Seeds of Italy, but the RM delivery is £3 more, but it is very cheap (and their jam funnel).

[mandycharlie]

I can't seem to find it  ??

[David.]

LINK

I'm still hoping to find a cheap box of tomatoes on the market or at a car boot sale so I can try mine out & report back.

[Trillium]

Can't help you with a source from my side of the pond, but over here the common one goes under the name of Squeezo Strainer, which is a larger aluminum affair with changeable screens depending on what you're pureeing. That's a hand crank affair and when we got our Kitchen Aid mixer, we got the puree attachment pkg. with it. Now it's electric and we do bushels of tomatoes then later apples for sauce and canning. Can't imagine life without it. Both our units send the puree out the middle of a long-nosed screen and the almost dry squeezed skins and seeds come out the nose tip straight into a catch bowl. Even got a wider 'plate' for the hopper opening for messy or missed ladle fulls of veg. If you're doing quantity, then the little red job is too small.

[Trillium]

Forgot to mention that the reason we use our machines is that I have considerable trouble digesting tomato seeds; more like terrible stomach gas. The machine eliminates 99% which I can easily deal with. Some people with Crohn's Disease are severely allergic to tomato seeds and use this machine then a final screening for 100% seed removal. I also don't care for the tougher cooked skins and these are also gone. True, you lose texture of chopped veg but that doesn't help if you really can't eat it.  

[Redwellies]

This is the cheapest place i've found for the passata machine,same one as Seeds of Italy are selling but 7 or 8 quid cheaper. www.tempsl.co.uk and the ref. number is 6621 to order online.

 

great!  ive just ordered mine thanks for the link, just gotta wait for the toms to grown now.  Pasta sauce here we come!!