10 min • How to Use a Food Mill • Loaves and Dishes

Perfect for all kinds of projects in the kitchen and a great way to save money, when you know how to use a food mill, you’ll be ready for all kinds of tasks!

How To Use a Food Mill

If you have never used a food mill, you might be wondering, “What’s a food mill for” or “Why would I need a food mill”.

All great questions that I plan to answer here. For sure, a food mill won’t save you from any cooking disasters or give you wizard like cooking powers.

What a food mill will do though, is help you save money by being able to process food in different ways. Hang with me and you’ll see what I mean.

What Do You Do With A Food Mill?

A food mill is for crushing up foods like tomatoes, potatoes, blackberries, applesauce, grapes, watermelon or any food that you need to smash and make thinner.

For example, if you check out the video below, you’ll find that I’m using my food mill for making watermelon juice which I love to add to my lemonade for a refreshing summer drink and even as an adult beverage.

I’ve used my food mill to crush up cooked tomatoes and celery and the food mill removes the seeds, skins and seeds.

Food mills come in several different types. The one in the video below is a manual food mill and I’ll add a link below to one that attaches to a kitchen aid mixer. Great for large processing projects.

What Can I Make Using a Food Mill?

So many things can be done with a food mill such as…

• Applesauce
• mashed potatoes
• Tomato soup
• Jams
• Fruit juice
• Vegetable juice
• Baby foods
• So much more!

Is a Food Mill the Same Thing as a Food Processor?

No, a food mill is not the same thing as a food processor.

A food mill will mash a soft food item and remove things like skins and seeds and strings.

A food processor chops all of that up together using a fast turning sharp blade.

Can I Use a Food Mill To Make Mashed Potatoes

Yes, absolutely you can use a food mill to make quick work of cooked potatoes.

How Do You Use a Food Mill for Tomatoes

Use a food mill for tomatoes by cutting the tomatoes into small pieces and then use a potato masher to mash the tomatoes.

Ladle the crushed tomatoes into the food mill and turn the handle. The food mill will crush the remaining tomato pieces and remove the skin and seeds.

Don’t forget to back the blade up to scrape the sieve and then turn clockwise again to start crushing again.

You’ll have to empty the food mill when it becomes clogged with skins and seeds.

PRO TIP: Do NOT put the skins and seeds down the kitchen drain as it will clog. Put them into the trash, compost pile or give them to the chickens. Chickens love these items

How to Use a Food Mill for Apples

First, you’ll need to cook the apples to soften them. Cut into quarters and boil in water for 5 minutes or until fork tender.

Then use a potato masher to mash the apples. Ladle the crushed apples into the food mill and turn the handle. The food mill will crush the remaining apple pieces and remove the skin and seeds. Don’t forget to back the blade up to scrape the sieve and then turn clockwise again to start crushing again. You’ll have to empty the food mill when it becomes clogged with skins and seeds. PRO TIP: Do NOT put the skins and seeds down the kitchen drain as it will clog. Put them into the trash, compost pile or give them to the chickens. Chickens love these items

Where Can I Buy a Food Mill

You’ll find food mills at specialty kitchen stores or hardware stores that sell food preservation hardware.

It’s probably easiest to find one on line.

You can click the photos below to go to Amazon and compare prices. I am an Amazon affiliate and if you choose to purchase through this link, I do receive a commission and that goes to supporting this website, so thank you! The commission does not affect your price, however.

This is the manual food mill I own and I can recommend it 100%. It has lasted for years and works perfectly even after hours and hours of hard use.

This is the Kitchen Aid food mill that I own. I use this for larger projects (like making and canning tomato soup which involves processing tomatoes and celery through the food mill).

It too works perfectly after years of hard use. Easy to use. Worth the cost.

Here’s What You’ll Need

When starting a project on your food mill, you are going to need

• several large bowls and a
• rubber spatula
• Potato masher
• ladle.

You may also need a

• stock pot (if the food item has to be cooked first to soften it) and a
• sharp kitchen knife
• cutting board
• stove

Here’s How You Do It

There are no worries with a manual food mill. You won’t mess it up if you have a good quality one. That said, your project will go more quickly if you know what you are doing before you start.

Be sure to watch the video below where I go over how to use your food mill.

• Make sure that you are only trying to process soft foods in the food mill. Harder textured foods like carrots, celery, apples, etc. have to be cooked to soften them first.
• Cut the fruits and veggies into manageable size pieces. You do not have to remove the skins and seeds.
• Crush the fruits and veggies using a potato masher
• Ladle the mashed fruit into the food mill and turn the handle clockwise. Occasionally, back the handle up to clean the blade of skin and seeds then turn clockwise again.
• Empty the food mill when it becomes too full to process more.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)

Tips and Tricks

There are so many ways to use the food mill and it is so easy to do that I really don’t have a lot of tips and tricks except….

• Remember that large pieces of food won’t work in a food mill, so you have to mash up what you have before it can go through the food mill effectively. A potato masher works great for this task.
• The best think about processing foods though the mill is that you do not have to worry about seeds and skins because removing those is what it does best!
• When buying a food mill, easy clean surfaces are essential.
• Do NOT put the pulp from the food mill down the drain. It will clog. Ask me how I know? I have 50ft of new kitchen drain to prove it.

Watch Me Use a Food Mill

Can You Give Me a Hand?

Please leave a 5 STAR comment in the comment section below. This helps others to find the recipes at Loaves and Dishes! Thank you!

• 2 cups watermelon cut into chunks

• Place the watermelon chunks into a large bowl. Use the potato masher to mash the watermelon into small pieces.

• Pour the contents of the large bowl into the bowl of the assembled food mill using the large hole seive.

• Turn the handle of the food mill in a clockwise direction until the pieces of watermelon are captured under the flat portion of the mill. Then turn counter clockwise for several turns. Turn in clockwise direction again. Repeat until no more juice can be extracted from the watermelon.

• Turn the handle counterclockwise until the blade is cleaned off. Use a rubber spatula and turn the food mill upside down to remove and scrape the bits from the bottom of the mill. Discard those pieces.

• Replace the sieve in the bottom of the mill with the proper smaller hole sieve (very small holes for juice, medium holes for jam). Repeat step 3.

• Pour the juice into a proper container for your purposes and utilize the resulting juice.

• Remember that large pieces of food won’t work in a food mill, so you have to mash up what you have before it can go through the food mill effectively. A potato masher works great for this task.
• The best think about processing foods though the mill is that you do not have to worry about seeds and skins because removing those is what it does best!
• When buying a food mill, easy clean surfaces are essential.
• Do NOT put the pulp from the food mill down the drain. It will clog. Ask me how I know? I have 50ft of new kitchen drain to prove it.

Nutrition Facts

How to Use a Food Mill

Amount Per Serving

Calories 23
Calories from Fat 1

% Daily Value*

Fat 0.1g0%

Saturated Fat 0.01g0%

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.04g

Monounsaturated Fat 0.03g

Sodium 1mg0%

Potassium 85mg2%

Carbohydrates 6g2%

Fiber 0.3g1%

Sugar 5g6%

Protein 0.5g1%

Vitamin A 432IU9%

Vitamin C 6mg7%

Calcium 5mg1%

Iron 0.2mg1%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

A Verse to Share

A good word I needed to hear, did you?

Matthew 26:29

I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom