Straining fruit for cordials, jelly's etc.

tincantoast

Hello all,

I'm looking for some advice, I'm wondering what everyone uses to strain their fruits to make cordials, jellys and the likes. I have an old KitchenCraft jam strainer but have managed to lose the bag and it's a specific one which hooks in (it's plastic but I absolutely love it, it's worked perfect for years, think I've lost the bag as I put them in the washing machine, so it's somewhere in the ether), so I went (stupidly) and got a newer one (tala) which is metal but awful and it slipped from my dish and I had a wee blackberry massacre in the conservatory. By golly did it go EVERYWHERE. I was more upset by the waste than the cleaning up, anyway, does anyone have any ideas on what I could use?? I do strain stuff overnight, so anything that I can leave would be great.

Thanks in advance

Tincantoast

flaneurs_lobster

Upturned 4-leg stool and muslin square fixed into position with strong elastic bands.

I've got the Lakeland red plastic thing too, is it the same as the KitchenCraft one? You can get replacement bags if so

https://www.lakeland.co.uk/3810/replacement-jelly-bag

tincantoast

@flaneurs_lobster Thank you, sadly it's not the same, I have not been around long enough to hyperlink but if you google Kitchen Craft Jam Strainer its the first one which comes up, sadly you cannot get the bags anymore or at least I don't think you can as I've searched everywhere for a couple of weeks.

Don't know if I trust an upturned stool (would have to find one) and elastic bands, ek! It's and idea though.. 

twopenny

I just bought some muslin, put it in/over a plastic strainer and pour into that.
I can rest the strainer on a large mixing jug.



If you want it to drip overnight tie the ends of the cloth and hang from a cupboard handle.

Tried all the proper ways back when I started but took much bother when I was working.
If you want to do lots of different juices you can swap the muslin.
I bought half a metre 30yrs ago and still got plenty left.

flaneurs_lobster

tincantoast said:

@flaneurs_lobster Thank you, sadly it's not the same, I have not been around long enough to hyperlink but if you google Kitchen Craft Jam Strainer its the first one which comes up, sadly you cannot get the bags anymore or at least I don't think you can as I've searched everywhere for a couple of weeks.

Ah, the bags with 4 eyelets - a quick Google rather confirms what you've found, or rather, not.

Bettie

I made a few bags out of a net curtain. It has holes where a rod would have gone so I threaded a piece of string through them and I hang from the cupboard door into a large saucepan overnight. I did read last week that people are using the net fruit bags from supermarkets. Not tried that yet. 
I always boil and bleach the net curtain after use. 

Nelliegrace

I use a large sieve or colander over the jam pan, lined with a scalded muslin nappy. I suppose you could sew tape loops onto the corners to hang it for a jelly bag. 

Never be tempted to press or squeeze out the last drops of juice or the jelly will be cloudy. 

I have made quince jelly, then sieved the leftover pulp and cooked that with sugar to make membrillo. 

Floss

@tincantoast I have one of those, and my bags split so I use the newer ones with loops, but take each loop around its hook 3 times, and put the strainer over my stock pan so there's plenty of space below it.

tincantoast

@Floss ohhh do you think it works a ok? Might be a quick fix for the meantime till I look into other options. Have been thinking of attempting to make my own bag, with eyelets.

-taff

I used to go on first aid courses qith the st johns ambulance people and when it was time to make a triangular bandage they all got thrown away when we were done so I took them, sewed a couple together and those are my straining cloths now. Ask them if you can have any of the cotton ones they use [ if they still have them] Or see if you can find a triangular bandage made of cloth. 

In a colander over a pan obviously for use...When I had cupbaords abov I would tie a knot in the ends and hang from the cupboard handles.

Floss

tincantoast said:

@Floss ohhh do you think it works a ok? Might be a quick fix for the meantime till I look into other options. Have been thinking of attempting to make my own bag, with eyelets.

I find it works ok.

You could make your own using baby muslins 😁