Playing In The Kitchen

I had a new bit of kitchen equipment arrive yesterday,

I was rather excited at the possibility's, long post so bear with me,

This is it, A steam induction juicer, I first saw it last week on someones blog, sorry I cant remember who it was I have tried going back through blog posts but cant find it. 

I was intrigued after a bit of research I decided it was something I could make use of and ordered one through Amazon £33, there was a few on there cheaper but I wanted one that would work on an induction hob as well as the Rayburn.

It consists of three parts

 The bottom tier is the water kettle, you fill it up

 pop on the next tier, this is the juice holder, the steam from the water comes up the funnel, this tier also has the tap

  The top tier is like a big colander, the steam comes up into the colander were your fruit is, the heat of the steam makes the juice leach from the fruit that trickles into the second tier

When you open the clamp the juice comes down the tube into your container

While I was out walking Sol yesterday I picked a couple of pounds of blackberries, after a quick wash into the top tier they went

I brought it up to the boil and kept it at a rolling boil, a tip I picked up when researching was add a few marbles to the water kettle then you can hear when its boiling

 An hour later Blackberry juice, the pulp from the fruit was fed to the chickens this morning, they loved it.

I had to go and get Thelma the goat a new collar as she broke hers again this morning, while out I popped into the fruit and veg wholesalers to see what £1 boxes he had 

 One mixed box of grapes and apricots

 Box of pears

 3 boxes of apples total cost £5

I made a start with the pears

washed chopped added to the steamer with a tablespoon of sugar, I didn't add sugar to the blackberries, its recommended you add a small amount of sugar if you want to use the juice for beverages.

It takes a bit longer with hard fruits, about an hour and a half, I then had pear juice, while it was doing its thing I got some bread done

 1 tiger loaf

 I also got some goats milk yogurt on the go, 

After the pears I had a go with the grapes

loads of juice from the grapes

While the grapes were doing, I was looking at the pear pulp that was left and a thought struck me 

I ran it through my puree thing that I cant remember the name of, 

it separated the skin and pips from the fruit pulp

The pulp has been spread on sheets in the dehydrator to be turned into fruit leathers, I got 4 trays and the skin and bits that were left went to the goats

After the grapes were done I spread those out on to dehydrator trays as well, I will update how it works out.

If it work out alright I could do the same with Blueberries and Cranberries and then use the dried fruit for baking after juicing.

 

3 small bottles of unsweetened blackberry juice, 1 bottle of pear, 1 and half bottles of grape, the other part filled bottle is a mix of pear and blackcurrant.

Now I have to decide what to do with them, they can be water bathed for storage or kept in the fridge and used in a couple of weeks, the juice can also be used for making jellies, syrup's or sauces, they could also be used for wine.

The blackberry I think I am going to make into a syrup to have with yogurts or ice cream. There are lots of recipes out there.

The others I think we will just use this week end as drinks, I have visitors arriving tomorrow and a friend arriving on Tuesday so plenty of opportunity to try them out.

I still have the apricots to do and the apples, with I will water bath to preserve.

The steamer can also be used for vegetables, it is also ideal for making a vegetable stock.

Apologies for the long post, but I had to put it through its paces.