Stainless, if you can afford one. They are wonderful !
Depending upon the brand you get, they can be used as a roaster, for steaming vegetables like corn, all kinds of things.
If the fruit is slightly bruised, but no mold, then it is Ok to use.

The aluminum would discolor, I'd think, with the acids. I have a stainless steel one similar to the linked model, the price has gone up $20 since I bought mine last year, but its still far less expensive than the other models and is well made and works just fine.

I'm still learning how to use mine - different fruits need different techniques. For grapes and ripe plums, its a breeze - an hour or so of steaming and you have clear, beautiful juice full of pectin and next to nothing left of the fruit.
Apples, it depends on the variety - with some of the firmer varieties I've had far better luck chopping them in a food processor first, and there is still a lot of juice left in the fruit even after hours of steaming. Makes some wonderful jelly, however.

I'm a happy camper, and have used it for dozens of pints of jelly and quarts of syrup already this fall.

Here is a link that might be useful: link to stainless steel juicer

David, I just bought that juicer for apples. The little hose is only about 14 inches. Do you think I can go to Menards and get any length of clear plastic hose and use that? Would it add any strange taste? I doubt it would melt.

What if you froze the apples first to get the cell walls to break down, would the juice come out better than? Did you ever try putting a cheesecloth inside the juicer to squeeze and get more juice that way?

You should be able to get a longer hose. The one on mine is more like rubber than plastic. The hose on them are not very long.
You may get more juice by freezing the apples, but my fruit always is so dry that I don't see how I could get any more juice out of it than I do. If you squeeze the pulp you will get cloudy juice. If that doesn't bother you, then you could do that.

Linda, where do you get the longer hose? I think it has to be silicone rubber not pvc or vinyl.

You want a food-grade vinyl tubing like this so you will likely have to do some calling around first to locate a local supplier or order it online (lots of suppliers).

If you have a local RV dealership they sell it as it is used in the RV water systems. Check the RV supplies at Walmart too. You'll need to mic (measure) the inner diameter of your tubing to know what size you'll need.

Dave

Wine making shops !

I've ordered from this place before and was happy with them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Surgical Tubing

Thanks for the replies. Water boils at 240 F and steam can be hotter than boiling water, so for a steam juicer it should be able to take a high heat. Dave did you use vinyl on a steam juicer and have no problems or plastic taste?

John that place says no continuous 10 footers for the size I need (ID 3/8) but then it says you can request continuous 10 footer at checkout if needed. ? Also says the maximum recommended operating temperature: 180 F. Have you used it on a steam juicer? Did it do ok? It is 10 dollars less than food grade silicone, that sells for 2.90 a foot or more.

> John that place says no continuous 10 footers for the size I need (ID 3/8) but then it says you can request continuous 10 footer at checkout if needed. ? Also says the maximum recommended operating temperature: 180 F. Have you used it on a steam juicer? Did it do ok?

My apologies. I have not used on a steam juicer or anything hot. Please disregard my suggestion.

Water boils at 240 degrees ? It is 212 at sea level. Then, steam is NOT hotter, it just has more force behind it. It is the same temp. as the water. It only gets hotter under pressure and a steam juicer has no pressure.
You should not need 10 ft. of tubing. I do fine with the one that came on the juicer. It clamps on the top of the juicer until I am ready to fill the containers with juice.
Even 2 ft. seems to long to me.

Agree with Linda Lou. Steam is not hotter than boiling water. It is briefly the same 212 degrees and then rapidly drops in temperature. And it isn't steam coming out the hose anyway, it is juice which is not boiling.

And no way should you need or even consider using that long a tubing or even close to it. For most the tubing length on the juicer is just fine - mine was damaged in storage so needed to be replaced - so I'm not sure why you would need something much longer than standard. And you'd only be increasing the odds of damage, bacteria, difficulty cleaning, etc.

But yes, food grade vinyl works just fine. It is the same tubing used for the hot water systems in motor homes. And you want to only use food-grade plastics when working with foods so no, not just any plastic tubing can be used.

Dave

PS: Linda Lou good idea on the wine making stores. Medical supply stores carry it too.

212 F, that's right. The minimum purchase is 10 feet from the mail order places I've looked at. I figure that between 3 and 4 feet would be about right to drain the juice from the spigot on the front burner to a pot or glass carboy on the floor. If 3 ft 4 inch would reach, 3 hoses could be cut from the 10 foot minimum order.

Linda how do you get the short hose to work for you? What do you use for collection, a pot beside the juicer on the stovetop or below the juicer on the top shelf of the oven?

I haven't made that much juice out of mine since I don't usually have so much produce but I use a 2 quart glass measuring cup. The unit will hold a fair amount of juice so I just periodically hold the measuring cup in front of the cooktop below the level of the outflow (I use the front burner) and hold the clamp open. If that one were to fill up I would move on to the one quart measuring cup. Works b/c I can hold it by the handle while doing that.

Like Melly said, I wouldn't leave the drain hose open all the time. No need to do that. You just open it now and then to drain into a measuring cup. We use a plastic 1 quart measuring cup with handle too and then dump that into the pot sitting on another burner to heat it up for filling the jars.

Dave

I sit a large pitcher on a folding step stool just below the stove. The hose reaches just fine.

Thanks for the helpful tips. To the original poster, another reason that stainless is better than aluminum, is that aluminum will pit, or get tiny holes in the metal, if you leave it in water with other metals. Aluminum will also leach discolor into water and foods boiled in it, and some people think that using aluminum will lead to Alzheimers.

If you search Youtube for steam juicer you will find some videos of people using their juicers.

I just recently got my steamer juicer from Amazon. The plums came out good. I froze some apples whole, thawed. quartered and put in steamer juicer. Filled the pot full. Had to remember to hang the hose on the handle because first use with the plums I didn't do that and came into the kitchen with plum juice all over the floor. hahahaha. The apples juiced just fine. I did not core them and the juice tastes great!

I have an assortment of juicers and collanders etc. and so far, I like the steamer juicer the best. This week I will be trying some thawed out plums without pitting to see if there is any difference in flavor. By the way, I have been making wine for several years now and I can see that the steamer juicer will make wine making a breeze!

As an interesting aside, elderberry wine is so much more pleasant to make with a steam juicer; one doesn't get that greenish, tacky goo on the sides of the primary fermenter.

Having frozen the berries, no mashing or serious stemming was required. The spent berries and tiny stems finished on the compost pile.

Deborah

I leave my runoff tube open and feed it into a 4" high hotel pan. Holds at least a couple of gallons before needing to be emptied. Canned and processed over 200 quarts of blackberry juice this past summer.

There are different types of juicers out on the market. I know everyone has there own opinion. But I go with the http://www.shahogenjuicepress.com one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Shahogen Juicer Press

Can anyone can give me some advice on making juice from lilikoi, or passion fruit? I've tried 3 times now and don't know what I'm doing wrong. First two times I think I must have had it too hot. It got a burned taste/smell from it. The last time I realized I really didn't know how to tell if it was done and it still didn't taste right to me. Help, please!!

A Google search pulls up several how-to make it sites, several with step by step pics and even a couple of videos. It sounds as if no cooking or at least only minimal cooking is required. You just blend it well and then strain it.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=how%20to%20make%20lilikoi%20juice

Dave

I forgot to mention I'm using a steamer juicer. The link above from digdirt2 didn't take me to anything.