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5:42 pm
August 30, 2010
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OK, I just got mine today. Not a minute too soon because I have pears that have been ripening in the house and some of them are developing bad spots.
I filled the basket with quartered, cored fruit. Filled the water reservoir with water. Put it all together and boiled for at least an hour, maybe more, till the water in the reservoir was almost gone. I bet I didn't get much more than a quart of juice and it's extremely watered-down tasting. What have I done wrong?
I let it sit and cool, thinking it might release more juice along the way. It did a little. But still weak tasting. While I was cutting up these pears, I tasted one and they taste like a normal pear. None of them were green.
The pears in the fruit basket have softened and become more densely packed into the basket because of the mushy-ness. But they are still quite moist, and they taste sweeter than the extracted juice does.
I was expecting a nice full-bodied pear tasting liquid that I could use instead of the water when canning up the remainder of the pears.
I've added more water to the reservoir and started the whole thing back up.
How do you know when you're done? Does liquid quit coming out of the tube?
I must be steam-juicer challenged. Here and on the Amazon.com reviews, everybody is just raving about how wonderful it is. I want to rave too!
6:03 pm
August 20, 2010
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I've found that it takes considerably longer to extract the juice than the guide states. At least it has for me so far.
From the Mehu-Liisa guide – yield for pears – 1-1.5 cups of juice per pound of fruit, heated at a medium simmer for 1-2 hours.
Also, lifting the lid will allow water to mix in with the fruit. So don't peek!
7:57 pm
August 30, 2010
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I looked at that guide and it said to only fill the water reservoir about 3/4 full. The instructions that come with the juicer say you can fill it nearly to the top. So when I replenished the water supply, I only filled 3/4 full, and started the boiling again. I'm getting darker and sweeter liquid now. Maybe that was my problem. Thanks for that tip about not peeking though. I don't think I did till after I turned off the heat but that's probably something I might do at some point. LOL
11:48 pm
February 8, 2009
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I fill mine with water nearly full – leaving just enough room for boiling without seeping out of the bottom pan. I keep mine boiling fairly hard. I have never been nearly out of water in an hour or so, so not sure what happened for you on that. Yes, it's done when you are not getting any more or very little flow out of the tube – there's still quite a bit in the collection pan at that point but not enough to flow out of the tube. Be sure to tip that middle pan and get all of the juice out when you're done. Could just be that your pears needed more time to soften and have the cells burst to release their juice? I've not SJ'd pears yet so I don't have that experience to draw from.
Dede
12:00 am
February 22, 2010
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It took the longest time for my pears to juice out. Make sure that you mix the first juices with the last juice you get. The first is not very flavorful…the last is. Be careful…I almost let mine boil dry when I steamed juiced the pears
.
7:01 am
August 30, 2010
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Well, my pear-canning is all done now and I wanted to share a couple of experiences.
First off, I did finally get some decent juice from those pears, but it took forever and when I see my electric bill I might decide it's cheaper to buy pear juice than to make it.
I tried juicing the pits and peels like someone else said they did. This didn't work very well with the pears. I had washed my pears very well. But I think it was the seed that made the juice have a bitter aftertaste. I really hated to throw this out after all the time I'd spent processing it. But chalk it up to "the cost of education". I think for pears, it would be a good idea to pit the pears and put the pits in a container destined for the compost bin (or chickens or what have you), and just save the peelings for steaming.
I can see how this piece of equipment would really make processing grapes a lot easier. The seed leaching into the juice would be a plus. That's what they call "grapeseed extract", isn't it? It's pretty expensive at the health food stores. I had a bumper crop of concord grapes several years ago but it was while I was still working full time. I had a heck of a time juicing those grapes and just about wore myself out.
It'd sure be nice if there was an easier way to see when the water is getting low. Guess I'd better buy a bag of marbles!
Thanks, everyone, for posting your experiences with this product here. It was a very good resource for me. –Ilene
11:13 pm
November 23, 2008
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I received my steam juicer a couple hours ago. I have about 180 lbs of apples to juice, so I got busy. Filled the fruit section with quartered apples and after about 30 minutes I had a quart of good tasting juice.
So far I'm pleased!
11:13 am
May 23, 2009
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I think you will love it! I am still so happy with mine. Did pears last week. I used the pears for canning then I steamed the peels and pits for juice and made great tasting jelly.
1:16 pm
February 10, 2009
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A steam juicer is definately on my list of things I wish I had. It's kind of a long list though, so who knows when I'll get one! I'm definately watching for a used one though at yard sales and thrift stores. It seems to me it's one of those things that a daughter or daughter in law would sell or give away because they either don't know what it is or don't want to bother with it anymore. … I have no intention of telling them how great they are either when I offer to take it off their hands! 
7:36 pm
October 29, 2010
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We love our Mehu-Liisa, one of our best investments. We saved up to buy the stainless steel type as we planned to do tomatoes and other high acid items and aluminum does not react well with high acid foods.
We use it to make grape juice, spiced apple juice, cranberry juice and tomato juice every year. This year we also juiced raspberries to make jelly and loaned it to a friend to steam wild Beach Plums that she picked… got a couple quarts of juice as a thank you which have made a yummy jelly.
Reading some of the posts about buying used ones, out of curiosity I checked ebay and was surprised to seeing them going for $199! We bought ours new three years ago for $120 at a hardware store in Pennsylvania. So, I guess it realloy can be more expensive in some parts of the country.
I can not recommend it more highly if you can get a good price, we love ours and it has definitely paid for itself in the three years we've had it.
Ruth in NH
9:22 am
October 14, 2010
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My friend and I have this steam juicer, much cheaper and still stainless steel. It works great and we have both used it a lot.
http://www.amazon.com/Cook-Hom…..B001KB9KCW
Hugs Cheryl 
2:46 pm
October 29, 2010
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I also have that steam juicer and I love it….it's beautiful.
5:21 pm
February 22, 2010
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Paws_Bakery said:
My friend and I have this steam juicer, much cheaper and still stainless steel. It works great and we have both used it a lot.
http://www.amazon.com/Cook-Hom…..B001KB9KCW
Hugs Cheryl
I have the same juicer and I don't know how I did with out one for so long! I love it!
12:47 am
May 19, 2011
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http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Rib…..038;sr=8-1
this cookbook puts the jelly and jam recipes in the way ya'll have been talking about–it tells you how to make the juice then how to make the jelly with a certain amount of juice–so for the steamer, juicer you just leave off the how to make the juice part–
btw–Hi–i am new here after lurking for awhile– 
3:26 pm
November 11, 2010
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Has anyone done butternut squash or pumpkin? I'm curious to know if this would be a good way to get a puree for soup. Usually I roast them, seed them, puree them, add stock…or peel them (which I hate), cube them (hard!) and cook in stock.
4:59 pm
December 28, 2008
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Great question, mamaj! Looking forward to the answer…
8:17 pm
February 8, 2009
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well, I am not sure if you would gain by steam juicing or not. They could be whacked in half or into pieces, steamed in the SJ, then pulp scraped out. I cut/saw butternuts in half, scrape the seeds out, microwave or oven roast until tender and then the pulp scoops out easily from the skin/peel. I do not like peeling them! The pulp has a good texture and body as is. Steam juicing would make a more stiff pulp (less liquid) but if you're going to add liquid anyway….
dede
4:10 am
November 11, 2010
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What I was thinking was that I could use the liquid that came off for soup. I'm still trying to decide if I 'need' a steam juicer. I don't make jellies, but once I'm up and canning I will do a lot of tomato stuff. And using it for broth making seems to be a good idea. But I'm still curious if its a good way to make vegetable puree soups? Anyone used it for that?
8:10 am
December 28, 2008
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mamaj – I'm thinking that this juicer will come in handy for making a lot of soup bases, and be very handy for processing the occasional overabundance of stuff that used to get stuck in the freezer where it might or might not ever be seen again.
Am especially thinking of tomatoes. They won't need to be blanched, or chopped, or have the stems removed – just halve them, stick them in the juicer, collect the liquid gold then feed the remains to the chickies, or throw it into the compost. Depending upon what the remaining pulp is, perhaps make a quick bread from it? Or just puree it and stick it into a jar to add to something.
Am also thinking that there are times when I just might do that pumpkin or squash in the juicer. On days we are either without electricity or we don't want the heat from the oven we can use the camp stove outside.
At least that is the theory. We will see. 
9:23 am
November 11, 2010
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Well, Pete, that sounds like a great theory to me. I have a portable burner, so that could be a great plan for me, too. Way earlier on this thread they mention running some of the tomato pulp through a strainer and adding it to the juice for a more sauce-like consistency. I am thinking if I used it for nothing but tomatoes, it could be a good investment.If you do the pumpkin or squash, please let me know how it goes.
Experienced users: My lazy self wants to come up with a one-step process for making pizza/spaghetti sauce. Have ya'll done that in your steam juicer? In other words, added all the garlic, onions, etc. with your tomatoes while they are steaming so in the end you just strain and add a little pulp and you're done?
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