Mark Angermayer asked, "Is there a better way to separate the seeds from the
pulp than a
strainer/food mill?"
I suppose you'd like me to divulge a trade secret, huh?
Here's how we do it at Brambleberry Farm: Make something resembling a
pillowcase, but smaller. Make it to fit your cider press basket so it is
close to a tight fit but a tad bit looser with extra height so it can be
folded over when the basket is filled. Heat (with water to cover) your
berries to the boiling point or until they smash very easily. If your cider
press bed has a painted finish, you'll want a piece of metal under your
basket or the hot mixture will lift/destroy the finish. It is best to have
a stainless steel or aluminum liner in your cider press bed. Or, at the
very least, let your mixture cool down to 150 F, or lower before pressing.
After you've poured the mixture into your cloth-lined basket, fold the
extra cloth over on top. If your plunger doesn't fit tightly against the
wall of the basket, hold a wash cloth around it as you insert it into the
basket. Then start turning your screw. Do it slowly!!! If you press too
fast and your bag isn't sturdy enough, the contents will make a slit and
blow out the side. If your bag is strong enough and you turn too fast,
you'll have juice squirting in all directions. Press in intervals allowing
juice to drain between squeezings and repeat until the amount of juice you
get isn't worth your time to tighten again.
I've got a board that fits almost snugly over a pail to catch the seeds
and it has a hole in it that is the same size as the inside of the basket.
After pressing, transfer the basket to the seed catcher, remove the plunger
and push the seeds-inside-the-bag into the pail. Depending upon how tightly
you've squeezed, you may have to use force to remove the bag. Then turn
your bag inside out to remove the last vestiges of seeds. If the seeds come
out easily and the bag is relatively clean, you did it right. If alot of
the seeds and skins cling tightly to the bag, your mixture was too hot when
you pressed it and you'll have to use a brush to clean the inside of the
bag.
While your juice is still warm, proceed to make your jelly. If you let
it cool to room temperature or lower to make your jelly later, you'll lose
some flavor. BE WARNED: When you remove the seeds from berries you may
change the flavor. I have removed seeds from red raspberries and the
resulting jelly flavor was unrecognizable.
Before we settled on the above method, we tried many methods. The
Victorio Food Strainer was efficient but slow when compared to the above
described method. Using a Foley Food Mill for deseeding berries was an
exercise in frustration.
Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN 56472
For jams, jellies & syrups:
www.bberryfarm.com
(877)265-6856 [Store]
(218)831-7018 [My Cell]
[NAFEX] Removing berry seeds,
Jim Fruth, 11/22/2008