ps. i got the villaware strainer ya'll reccommended and it is does a wonderful job. I just can't figure out what kind of short bowl fits under the spout.

Pyrex makes several different inexpensive models. Any shallow vegetable serving dish - like the ones usually included with a set of dishes - work and any of the Pyrex baking dishes like a 9x13 or the 10x16 one for a sheet cake also works.

Any local kitchen outlet stores, dollar stores, big box, walmart, etc. they all sell cheap bowls that fit easily. Buy 2 so you can just keep trading them back and forth.

Food processor? We are more into mandolines for canning prep. Cheaper and gives you more control for adjustments on slice thickness ets. But we do have a Hamilton Beach FP similar to this one but older that we use for purees and making salsa.

Dave

However, I find I don't use it that much for canning. I really prefer doing prep by hand. Knifework or Mandoline are much more consitent for me. Things like onions exude too much juice in a FP for my taste. So the Cuisinart is my "desperation backup" when I'm canning big or multiple batches and speed is essential.

With the Mandoline (since I'm a klutz) I like cut-resistant gloves.

Actually, what I use most often as a canning appliance is my 30+ year-old KitchenAid with attachments - grinder (perfect for relishes), colander and slicer/shredder.

Carol

If you pre cut the vegies and use the pulse you can get a good variety of chop sizes with just the standard blade.

I have a large selection of optional blades but rarely use them.

I wouldn't be without the FP for mincing and pureeing large quantities. I use it primarily for tomato sauce (not the tomatoes), apple sauce, pumpkin puree, pesto and salsa.

I have tried several mandolines and didn't like any of them. For slicing it is hard to beat a quality sharp knife.

Zeuspaul

As for the Villaware strainer, I use a glass oblong baking dish and it works great.

To get skins and seeds out of somthing like tomtatoes, the best method is a Willaware/Roma food strainer. These are conical shaped screens and they are attached to a device similar to a meat grinder and can quickly remove seeds and skins from tomatoes, as well as many berries, using an optional smaller holed berry screen. Suggest that you do a SEARCH within this forum for the threads that detail, describe and show photos of them. For the food strainers, no pre-prepping is needed, except maybe cutting the larger tomatoes in halves so they fit the hopper.

tietie - there are hundreds of different mandolines out there so it all depends on how much you want to spend and what sort of things you want to slice. They come in V slicer and straight slicer modes. Prices range from $10 to $200. Most come with at least the 3-4 basic blades and the more expensive ones have optional additional blades. Cheaper ones don't allow for slice thickness adjustment, the more expensive ones do. Start with an inexpensive one and see if it meets your needs or if you are comfortable using it.

Mandolines

More Mandolines

Dave

I found a source for a small mandoline for slicing thin strips for California rolls (sushi). Its quite dangerous in the wrong hands, but is meant for small jobs only. I bought from a supplier of Asian products.

A blogger from Maine makes huge batches of kraut, and has written about it. He uses an industrial-size "hobler" to shred the cabbage. Check it out here.

Mabel

Using a cheap plastic mandolin that you are afraid of is dangerous. Even with a Kevlar glove (buy them at Walmart in the fishing department - for cleaning fish - if you already have one) it will make the chore unacceptable - too bulky/clunky, but it still does work - time quality is a factor here. An expensive professional mandolin is pure pleasure and if you plan on canning for many years, the only way to go. My pro chef SIL gave me his old Bron mandolin (new is probably $150). "Wow" is the only word to describe a professional piece of equipment - kinda like buying a maslin pan! The thickness of a slice is easily adjusted; it makes julienne and french fry thicknesses in one pass with a turn of a knob, and also endeared me in that it makes a cute wavy cut if I so desire. It comes with a guide plate so that you never have to get anywhere near the cutting plate and therefore it is totally safe. The blade can be sharpened to razor edge but my SIL said that he used it for 17 years without having to do that and to me it is way sharp enough for my cukes. Zip-zip.

As for mini choppers (half an onion - minced, 2 cups of diced peppers, 6 garlic cloves - minced, etc.) I recommend the little mini food chopper (1 to 2 cup size) by Black & Decker, for about ten bucks. Available at chain drug stores (CVS, Walmart, and the like). Never makes paste of nuts either (just "finely chopped") so it is used a lot here instead of the stupid scrunch and grunt upper hammer nut "grinders".

I bought a burr coffee grinder for spices. It is a simple mechanism with adjustments for "granular" size that is irrelevant for hard spices - longer whirring works the same. It was about $15 at Target. It depends on what the outcome for which you wish to achieve. Note that it is super for leaving tasty traces in the hopper and then when you are grinding fresh coffee beans viola! Yum to cinnamon sticks followed by dark roast coffee beans.

As for full sized food processors - I use the attachment made for my KitchenAid mixer. Shredding 10 pounds of carrots is a snap, chunking tons of cabbage for slaw is a simple change to a different sized cone (three come with a set and 10 more are available), and for making piles of cheese for crackers that just goes through like butter. The problem is that you have to have a KitchenAid stand mixer to attach it to.

One simple little tool for twenty bucks that has me watching infomercials again is the Vidalia Onion Chopper, a.k.a. Sweet Onion Chopper, and the like. It uses the force of your hand/arm to press down on a template over a steel honeycomb-shaped plate. I cubed enough sweet onions for 40 jars of relish in about 10 minutes, enough zucchini for 20 jars of relish, and the steamed carrots for pickled relish in 5 minutes. Then I used it to cut up sweet and hot peppers, red onions, and dried apricots for about 20 jars of Habanero Gold Jelly in just under 10 minutes. It does not work for softer things like cherries and plums, but I will try it for tomatoes, whenever they decide to ripen, when I make more tomato preserves.

As for a dedicated food processor - buy only the one with the widest bowl you can find. If it has a narrow bowl you may as well just buy a blender and forget chopping with it. I have a "harvest gold"-colored food processor from about 1970 that has a very wide bowl, no safety features, and limited options, that suits me just fine for chunk shredding, fruit puree prep (before it all goes into the Squeezo), and using just the cutter blade alone for making great pie crusts and for coarse chopping big nuts. It is worthless for making nicely sliced cukes for pickles, or for precision shredding or slicing for anything else. If I were to buy one today, I'd go with the snazzy KitchenAid KFP750. It is what all the pro chefs on TV use and they have to determine "quality or junk for their standards - give or take rebates. That model also comes with the mini bowl so the B&D would not be needed. (Though I would not give up my B&D mini for anything after all these years.)

At your young age, and the interest in preserving food you have shown over the last 3 years, an investment in quality equipment is akin to a painter who has to choose between a throw-away brush and one that will last 10 years. Duh! Initial investment in quality tools will outlast throw-always by far. If you don't believe me, come see me chop cabbage in the harvest-gold FP sometime!!! Your whole investment in good quality tools would be in the $15O to $550 range. Throw-away paintbrush or 50 years of quality?

Nancy

Love my KitchenAid.