Victorio Food Strainer Review: Tomatoes & Applesauce

Victorio Food Strainer Review: Is It worth It for tomatoes and applesauce?

I was in the middle of a straining a batch of tomatoes, getting ready to can tomato sauce, and I realized I had never actually done a proper review of my Victorio food strainer. So I set up the camera and walked through exactly how I use it, seeds, skins, splatters and all.

The video shows what it does, how it works. Check the article below the video for one thing I want to be upfront about before you buy one.

If you can a lot of tomatoes or make your own applesauce, this is one of those tools that earns its spot on your counter.

Brand and Model Details

Mine is made by Victorio, model VKP250. The video review above is over 12 years old at this point and that mill had been in my kitchen for a long time even then.

So the brands change as they always do. The company behind Victorio has rebranded. What used to be sold as Victorio strainer is now sold under the Kitchen Crop name, along with a couple of other labels like Johnny Apple Sauce Maker and I think Roots & Branches is also the same (not positive on that one). As far as I can tell all are the same manufacturer, just different branding over the years.

So if you search for “Victorio” don’t be surprised if what comes up is labeled Kitchen Crop instead. It’s the same VKP250 food strainer, just under its current name. Parts and accessories are interchangeable across all of these labels since they all come from the same manufacturer.

What the Victorio Food Strainer Actually Does

The Victorio food strainer, sometimes also called a food mill, is built to separate the good stuff (juice and pulp) from the stuff you don’t want in your finished product (seeds and skins).

You load food into the hopper on top, turn the hand crank, and the strainer pushes everything through a screen. What you want to keep comes out one spout. The unwanted skins and seeds get squeezed out through the discard chute into a separate container.

I use mine mostly for two things: tomatoes and applesauce. For tomatoes especially, it’s a great shortcut if you want a smooth sauce without seeds, like tomato juice.

For the batch in my video above, my tomatoes had already been peeled. If your tomatoes are not peeled you can still use this to take the peels off as well.

How It Works, Step by Step

The process is simple:

Once your fruit (tomatoes or apples)are cleaned you’ll want to heat them up.

• Tomatoes can just be heated through until they are soft. Mash them up with a spoon or tomato masher if you have them to get the juices flowing. Heat until soft. Canning tomato sauce can be found here.
• Apples need to be cooked until soft. It doesn’t need to be applesauce yet… but the flesh needs to be soft enough to push through the screens. I’ve got more specific directions on prepping apples for applesauce on this post about canning applesauce.
• Berries can just be strained as is. The strainer makes removing seeds easy.

The foods go into the hopper on top. There’s a plunger if you need to push food down.

Turn the hand crank. This pushes the food through the screen.

Juice and pulp come out the front through the tomato screen. (I call it the ramp. It’s sort of ramp like.) This is your seed and skin free tomatoes to keep and use for recipes.

Seeds and skins come out the discard chute out the end into a separate bowl or container. Mine go straight out to the chickens or compost.

One Bummer: The Discard Chute

I have one negative remark about this strainer. Overall it’s worked great for many many years BUT… one tiny little clear plastic piece. Yep, it broke.

The plastic funnel piece where the seeds and skins discharge out the back is pretty fragile. It attaches to the strainer with some small plastic ‘tabs’. One of those tabs broke off years ago, and for years I’ve just been careful and babied that piece along so it wouldn’t fully break. It’s worked so far.

Here’s the good news: I recently found out you can buy replacement parts for it. If yours cracks or wears out, you don’t have to replace the whole strainer, just that piece. I’ll link both the strainer itself and replacement parts below.

• Johnny Applesauce Maker model 250 (the current version of My old Victorio 250)
  
• Replacement parts

It’s a small thing, but it’s the difference between tossing the whole tool and just ordering a $10 part. I wish I’d known sooner.

Is This the Same as the Norpro Sauce Master?

No. The Norpro Sauce Master is not the same strainer as mine. They look similar and do the same basic job, separating juice and pulp from seeds and skins, but they’re different products from different companies, and the parts aren’t interchangeable between them.

If you’re comparing the two before you buy, both are great tools and it really comes down to which one you prefer or what fits your budget. I use the Victorio VKP250, but I’ll link both below so you can look at the specifics side by side and decide what works best for your kitchen.

• Johnny Applesauce Maker model 250 (the current version of My old Victorio 250)
  
• Norpro Sauce Master

Is It Worth Getting?

If you’re processing a lot of tomatoes or applesauce every season, yes absolutely. It saves a lot of hands-on peeling and seeding time, and it holds up well as long as you know that one piece needs a little extra care. If you only can a jar or two of tomatoes here and there, you may not need it, hand-seeding a small batch isn’t a big deal.

For anyone getting into canning tomatoes or applesauce for the first time and wanting to build out a full pantry, this is one of those tools that pays for itself pretty quickly.

Want more help with preserving tomatoes start to finish? Check out tomato recipes here.