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Some people make the mistake of thinking that food strainers and colanders are the same thing.  They may look similar and do a few of the same jobs, but a strainer can do many more useful things than your standard colander.  Your colander might be great for rinsing lettuce and draining potatoes, but the strainer has a ton of advantages that I want to share with you in this post!

First off, we should clarify the difference between the two.  A colander is generally a bowl with larger perforations in it that stands on its own in the bottom of the sink.  The large holes make draining water quick and efficient.  A strainer, on the other hand, has much smaller perforations or even a mesh bottom.  Since the holes are so much smaller a ton of new uses are opened up for it.

Simple tasks like juicing a lemon for salad dressing or sauces can be made even easier with a small strainer.  Squeeze the lemon into the strainer and let it catch the pulp and juice.

Juicing other, more difficult, things like blackberries and raspberries becomes extremely easy with a mesh strainer.  Just put the berries into the strainer, then use a large spoon to push the juice out of them.  The skin and seeds will stay behind in the strainer!  Try doing this into melted chocolate for a delicious ganache that dresses vanilla cupcakes perfectly!

Any metal strainer also works very well for sifting the dry ingredients in baked goods.  Put it on top of the bowl that you are mixing the flour and leavening in measure the dry stuff into the strainer.  Shaking it into the bowl will perfectly sift all of it together for a great mix.

These are just a few of the excellent things that you can do with a food strainer.  It’s such a versatile tool, and it’s unfortunate that many people just assume that their colander is enough.  Having both is key to a well stocked kitchen!