Food press. Marc Pascual / Pixabay.com / 2018 / CC0 1.0
Food presses are devices which transform food in some way. They have many applications in the culinary world. Uses include:
- Binding food mixtures together;
- Pressing food into shapes and sizes more convenient for slicing, portioning and serving;
- Making attractive shapes;
- Creating all new dishes out of something else, such as juice out of fruit;
- Holding food closer to a heat source;
- Saving labour and introducing greater efficiency to a task.
They can be any size, from small to industrial, and of materials such as stone, wood, plastic or metal. They can be operated by manual force, or electricity.
Presses can be used for liquid or solid foods, and used during harvest, food creation or preparation, or cooking.
Types of presses
Cookie Press
A cookie press (aka "cookie pistol") is a kitchen tool used to make cookies with special shapes. You pack the tube with dough, and then press either a trigger or a plunger on top to force the dough out through a nozzle at the bottom of the tube to which...
Garlic Press
A garlic press is used to crush garlic. Note that you will get crushed garlic, not minced. The garlic comes out more like a paste, which can be ideal for garlic butter and salad dressings.
Icing Syringe
An icing syringe is a tube with a plunger that differently-shaped nozzles attach to. Icing is then put into the tube and pressed out through the nozzle in decoratively-shaped flows.
Jerky Gun
A jerky gun is a hand-held press used for making strips of meat jerky from ground meats. It consists of a tube, with a press, and interchangeable tips
Juicers
Juicers are tools for extracting the juice out of a fruit or vegetable. A good juicer is designed to get the maximum amount of juice out of produce, with the least amount of manual labour. One of the keys to evaluating a good juicer is -- including clean-up...
Pea Sheller
A pea sheller is a machine that automates getting peas out of their pods. It can save the hours of manual work required to shell peas.
Raisin Seeder
A raisin seeder is a tool to remove seeds from raisins. They are now obsolete, because raisins are now sold already seeded. The seeders were either simple presses or mechanized crank-turned devices.
Spätzle Press
A Spätzle press is a kitchen tool used to help make the Central European egg noodles called "Spätzle".
Tassie Press
A tassie press (aka tassie tamper, tart tamper) is a tool used for making for making small tart shells by pressing dough into shape rather than rolling dough and cutting it out.
Tea Press
A tea press is a pot with a strainer attached to a plunger. The plunger works with the strainer to separate tea leaves from the brewed tea to be poured into a cup.
Tongue Press
A tongue press is used to press cooked, skinned tongue or other meats into a uniform shape. This allows a more uniform appearance to slices cut for luncheon meat.
Tortilla Press
A tortilla press is used for forming the Mexican flatbread called a "tortilla." The press can be used for corn tortillas or flour tortillas.