Pureeing

Appears in

By Jeremiah Tower

Published 2002

  • About
I like blenders—for milkshakes. The heat, oxidization, and violence they produce don’t do most other foods much good. I think pureeing is best done by hand, through a sieve or hand-cranked food mill.
Try the following experiment: fill four cups with raspberries from one batch of fruit. Put one cup through a sieve by hand, put one through a food mill, and puree one in a food processor and one in a blender. Compare the purees: the hand-sieved puree has a bright color, a heady perfume of raspberries, a thick texture, and pure flavors. The blended berries are dull-colored, have very little fresh aroma, a thin, watery texture, and suppressed and oxidized flavors. The food processor method is in between.