VillaWare V200 Food Strainer
by Villaware

List Price: $59.99
Category: Kitchen
See more product details

(Click here)

Product Summary

• Stainless-steel construction
• Manual crank system
• Replaces peeling and coring
• Assembly required
• Wash all parts in hot, soapy water

• Progressive 5-Piece Canning Kit
• VillaWare V200-29 4-Piece Attachment Set for Fruit and Vegetable Strainer #200

Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of VillaWare V200 Food Strainer

Customer Review: Good for manual use - a DUD when adding optional "motorizer"
Summary: 2 Stars

In fact, I generally reprocessed the pulp etc at least twice in most cases since it was often quite juicy and tasty after the first pass. The table grip/interface could be better and as with any canning project it's still a horrible messy sticky potentially-stain-causing event. Don't let the pretty machine fool you...there are new little leaks and drips with each new fruit you use - no matter what you try.

So this would be a 4 star item if I had never tried the "upgrade" - and I use the term quite loosely -- to the "motorizer." First of all, this is a pasta machine motor attachment that also works (supposedly) on the strainer/grinder. The one I purchased online at another site even came in a pasta machine designed box etc, despite the non-pasta-usage-plan. There was a little withered looking photocopy of some instructions that help you make this pasta attachment into a power-grinder-upgrade.

And honestly it's always an odd thing to add a small power motor to some manual tool like this so I can't fault Villaware on the relative non-ease and design-oddity that emerges while adding the scaffolding and the pasta motor and tightening it all with the tiniest allen wrench ever (also came with that instruction sheet)...BUT despite all the efforts, it never worked right. Seems that the specifications for the grinder motor are a millimeter off from the pasta machine version or something, because the "male" and "female" were never gonna have a real partnership. The grinder motor only pushes the manual shaft in too far, instead of slipping into place like the manual handle does so effectively. And this is the short version -- I mean who would think that a big snafu like this would result in anything but telling retailers about the issue so they would not sell these to folks like you and me! When I told my nice retailer about the motor issue, the manager thanked ME for the information since they had never been informed by the manufacturer.

Back to the Candid-Camera episode where a guy tries to make the motor driver fit correctly inside the grinder shaft with juice and pulp everywhere. Hello Lucy and Ethel at the chocolate factory. That was me. So, yes, it's true that it's not male nature to conclude that a) nothing I can fix and/or it's nothing I did wrong!

After finally asking for directions from Villaware directly (again, several calls to reach the right person when she was in and available), I succeeded in having only one brief chat, at the end of which she acknowledged that "Houston, We Have a Problem" -- but only after checking that I had not done any of the typical 2-3 motor installation mistakes that preceed the motor even being switched on! The Italian manufacturer changed something apparently. And though I called back as requested 2 or so weeks later when a solution was supposed to be ready, I never heard from them again about this failure. Bad news badly handled from start to finish.

I wanted a flexible manual/power option for my fruit grinder but learned that it was not to be. I have returned both grinder and motor and am using two electric-only and two manual-only fruit processing appliances happily instead. So very long story short - great potential, but no delivery. And the assorted strainer versions for thicker or thinner etc purees seem to be no longer produced since I never found a new or used set anywhere online.

Description of VillaWare V200 Food Strainer

In addition, several attachments can be purchased separately, including strainer/screens for berries, pumpkins and squashes, salsa, and grapes, as well as an electric motor, which would eliminate the need to manually turn the crank. --Teresa Simanton

Cook's Tools & Gadgets

• Kitchen & Dining > Kitchen Utensils & Gadgets