I ordered one of these and it came yesterday evening. My understanding is that you get juice, excellent for jelly, not so much jam, although some have said that by stirring the pulp now and again, more solids get through.

One of those kitchen gadgets that seems to get nearly unanimous, great reviews. If you decide to get one, Amazon seems to have a decent selection at reasonable prices.

Steam juicers (make certain you purchase one made of Stainless Steel!) are wonderful for making juice. I've made dozens of quarts of plum juice -- I stir the fruit to add "pulp" to the juice, because we like it that way. There are those who can or freeze the pure juice to make jelly at a later date. We just drink the juice, often mixing it with our morning orange juice.

There are methods of removing seeds from raspberries to make a seedless jam -- but using a steam juicer is NOT the equipment. I think others use a Vittorio or Chinois with great success.

Good luck. I'm sure other members will share their ideas.

I don't care for juicers as they dont seem to extract enough. Instead, I use the VIllaware/Roma food strainer and the optional berry screen sieve. It removes every drop of juice and separates all the seeds. Red raspberries and black raspberries are really easy to do and you do get all the pulp and juice, but not a single seed. The same food strainer can also be used to get the juices out of grapes. There, the spiral auger is shorter and will allwo the big grape seeds to pass the end of teh sieve without jamming. Its primary use is for tomatoes where it really shines and gives a sauce without skins and seeds.

Agree with Ken that the Vittorio/Roma/Villaware food mill makes the best berry jams using the berry screen. We only use our juicer for jelly.

Dave

The steam juicer is for juice for jelly. It is wonderful if that is what you want to make. I love mine.

What sort of 'yield' should one expect from a steam juicer? I ran my new one through the paces yesterday, using some just-ripening prune plums. Filled the 9 qt fruit basket, got 3 qts juice, and it seemed to me that there was a lot of juice left in the pulp. It also took about 3 hours of simmering, nothing like the 40 minutes suggested in the instruction pamphlet.

David52, we have used very juicy plums (Methley, Beauty, and yellow Shiro) and they've done very well. I also use a "potato masher" and squash down the fruit every once in a while. (Know, of course, that every time you lift up the lid you're losing some of the valuable heat/steam.)

The prune plums we have don't contain a lot of juice -- so maybe yours are the same. Also, you mentioned that they were "just-ripening" so maybe they hadn't achieved their full, juicy state.

You can place the fruit in the basket whole, or you can also make a slice or two in the fruit or puncture it with a fork here and there to aid in the release of juice.

We never need 3 hours of simmering. But then I don't always fill the basket completely full at first.

If you haven't tossed the pulp you can keep trying. It's an easy procedure (usually), and, depending upon what fruit you've chosen, can yield a nice juice.

Good luck, and keep trying.

Thanks Kathy, this particular plum tree is 50' north of a major raccoon highway, and trying to keep them on the tree until they are dead ripe isn't really an option. This year is a spectacular crop, even after hard thinning, the branches are bent nearly double, so I need to clear them off a bit so the raccoons don't destroy the tree going for them. I may pick a few boxes and see if they will ripen up a bit in storage.

How does a steam juicer work, can I make one of my own Alton Brown style?

Brendan, if you want more information on a steam juicer, it's easy to check online. This website has good information, recipes, and photos of probably the best juicer made. I don't know how you could jerryrig one yourself, though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mehu-Liisa Juicer information

Thanks, I had looked at that site but not seen the parts separated, I think I'll suspend some pears above a bowl in my pc and leave the gauge set to 0 psi and see what happens to them.

David and Brendan, you can gain lots of information from the website I provided. Brendan, there are other places on the site where you can view the parts of the steam juicer. Check the Replacement Parts section and you'll see photos that will help you, and check the Free Recipe booklet, too. David, look at the Free Recipe booklet that's available from that website; download it (in a .pdf format) and check page 3. There's a great chart that will answer many of your questions.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mehu-Liisa Juicer information

Got it yesterday, Kathy. It helps!