tannabanna....the $114 price was for the food grinder along with the juicer, unless I'm mistaken, which happens frequently!! I have one of those 30% off coupons, the price of the strainer alone was $60.00, and I wanted to add the larger food tray for $22.00. With the 30% off that takes it down to $55.00, give or take. Now I just need to decide if I want to take a gamble as to whether it will work better or not. Somebody tell me what to do!! The coupon expires tonight, so I guess I won't be torturing myself for too much longer! What Dave said in that other thread about the lower moisture content made sense, although I was thinking that it may also be an issue of the roasted tomatoes being too soft, and not pushing through the spiral very well. Thought maybe next year I could try putting in a raw one every now and then while I do the roasted ones, and maybe that would help push them through....I don't know.....

Farmers markets vary greatly. To be certified 100% organic is not cheap and requires a lot of extra work for any size farm. Many farmers are close to that level, but few can remain 100% organic, only because the land acreage can vary. In the case of the item you mentioned, it could be mentioned in the ingredients, then also described as an anti-foam agent. I doubt if most people would even bother to look at the ingredients list. As mentioned, its use has been for many years by the commerrcial industry and it will not affect taste, smell or any other normal character for any jellys or jams. Refined sugar, in its normal process, requires many nasty chemicals (sulfur, lime) to get it to the white granulated stage we see in stores. If all the chemicals were mentioned in sugar manufacture and refining, it would be a long list, and probably scare off most anyone. I see no degradation of properly home canned products. If I were to throw out my stuff dating back 2 years, that would wipe out all my tomatoes, most of the pickles, and 90% of my jams and jellies. Well over 200 jars in total. I am not about to do that with my canned foods as they are as good today as the day they were made. The ONLY issues are darkening color for some fruits, and cukes getting softer after that length of time. In either case, they are not poison, and not unappetizing to me. If we followed the rules of 6 months, we would have to do all our canning and date each and every jar, then toss them out if the dates went past 6 months. Way too impractcal. Who can really say what an expiration date can mean. Many commercial products contain so many 'stablizers' and preservatives, they could last a century. I just cooked up a 2 pound bag of shrimp that has been double bagged in my freezer since 2004. It has no freezer burn or any loss the flavor or texture. Even after I compared it with some shrimp I just bought and also cooked up seperately. Properly packaged, even frozen foods can last a long time. Around here, there are no farmers markets for many miles, so my summer garden sales and garage sales do very little business.

Thank you so much Jeff. I spoke with Fred. Unfortunately, his blender will not fit an old 251 model. I would have to buy his newly designed motor set up. Probably not realistic, when all I need is the blender. All of my other attachments are like new! Have you been pleased with your new kitchen prep setup? Just in case my motor goes out.

Thre was a post here a year or so ago....people didn't like them, daid they were hard to use and just made mush. Save your money, buy a cuisinart. Linda C