So last night I was making some sauce I got me a brand new food mill to try out, Then suddenly I realized I had a $300 Blendtec on the counter, I looked at the food mill and looked at the blender and made a decision... I used the blender lol Is there a reason a mill is better to use or is it just preference?
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Why choose food mill over Blender?
- Thread starter Gargoyle91
- Start date
JoynersHotPeppers said:
Does blending with seeds effect flavor negatively, All I can think of is it may add a bit of bitterness to the end sauce?
Some say it does and some say it doesn't....all a preference thing for the most part.Gargoyle91 said:
I think it's mainly aesthetic. When I want a super smooth sauce, I blend or puree in a food processor, then use a food mill (inexpensive hand crank style) later on to remove seeds and some skin. For small batches, you can de-seed but that's time consuming. Powerful blenders, like the Blendtec or Vitamix, can pulverize the seeds into bits but the sauce is still full of white bits. Personally, I think sauces choc-full of whole seeds aren't as appealing - but some are just fine.
Gargoyle91 said:
It depends on the type of sauce you're making. If I'm making a red sauce or a traditional salsa de arbol, I leave the seeds in. In fact, I like to toast them separately and grind them in a spice grinder and add them to the sauce. They add a fantastic nutty almost pumpkin seed flavor to the sauce. No bitterness at all.
Hybrid Mode 01 said:
That's....genius. How have I never thought of that?
salsalady
eXtreme Business
beanalicious1 said:
---the same way others have never thought to put the taillings from a food mill in the dehydrator....
ps-
to THP. 
back to the Blendtec/food mill question-
most people don't have a $400 Blendtec or Vitamix quality blender that can emulsify seeds. Those blenders cost a couple $$$. Most $35 home blenders can only get to a semi-gritty texture.
The next option is- cook the pulp and use a food mill to remove all the larger bits of skin and seed. This will yield a much smoother sauce on a small budget. Even after running a rough sauce through a food mill it might be a bit grainy in texture. But at this point, it can usually be cooked a bit more and then run through the food processor or blender to get a smooth texture.
And there is the discussion of if the seeds and placenta add bitterness. That is up to you, the sauce maker, to decide what to include in your sauce.
Have fun with your adventures!
salsalady
I'm a newbie when it comes to making hot sauce. I'm also here to learn from the vets. But I have been making tomato sauce for a few years, and a friend of mine owns a great Italian restaurant. He showed me the trick to starting a great tomato sauce..They have a "seed separator machine" They pour the tomatoes from a can or cooked fresh into the machine and it separates the seeds via centrifugal force. He told me long ago that the seeds make things bitter.JoynersHotPeppers said:
I use a blender or food processor when making my mashes and then I put it through a food mill to remove all the seed and skin mass after fermentation. Of course if your blender liquifies your seeds then that's not probably a problem.
If you have superhots, they don't generally produce a lot of seeds per pod. But if you have pods that have lots of seeds/pod then I think it would be good to blend just enough to break up the pods and then put through a food mill. But that's just my preference.
If you have superhots, they don't generally produce a lot of seeds per pod. But if you have pods that have lots of seeds/pod then I think it would be good to blend just enough to break up the pods and then put through a food mill. But that's just my preference.
and as scovie pointed out its all about your texture preference!I'm new to the community, but I've been making pepper sauce for several years. If you have a KitchenAid mixer, there is a strainer attachment that does a superb job of extracting seeds and skins and squeezing every last bit of essence from the mash. You have to have the grinder attachment first, then the strainer adds to the grinder. If you've seen an old fashioned Victorio mill, it works like that...tapered screw inside a mesh screen.
I like the texture of my sauce after going through the KA strainer better than buzzed up in the blender. It is a cleaner flavor, too...at least in my opinion.
I like the texture of my sauce after going through the KA strainer better than buzzed up in the blender. It is a cleaner flavor, too...at least in my opinion.