Fabio Leonardi electric tomato milling machines have specific instructions and tips for use. Each unit comes with a paper manual detailing assembly and cleaning instructions which is also linked to at the bottom of this description. In addition to this information, Fabio Leonardi has detailed prep and process tips for tomato milling:

• To begin, remove leaves and stems from tomatoes. Then place a handful of whole uncut* tomatoes in the top SP hopper (bowl). Before you turn your unit on, coat the spiral with olive oil, place one bowl beneath the screen chute to catch seeds and peels then add a second under the tip of the screen to collect the processed food.


• Move the switch to position "I" to turn on the machine. Guide the tomatoes through the hopper using the supplied pusher. Maintain a healthy level of tomatoes in the hopper. Do not run on empty. If desired, run the processed tomatoes through a second time for full extraction of the tomato meat if necessary. The resulting product of this machine is a separation of the water and meat of a tomato from the skin and the seeds. With the resulting product you can preserve the tomato for later usage or create a tomato sauce by cooking the resulting produced product to a thicker consistency.

Do not run the machine empty. After usage wash all parts of the machine (consisting of 6 easy to disassemble parts) with water and mild detergent and dry thoroughly. Coat the metal pieces with olive oil prior to storage. The spiral is designed to scrape against the inside of the stainless metal screen, this is what allows the tomato to be trapped against the screen in an ever tightening spiral. Because the spiral is cast some imperfections will wear off during the first run in the form of metal shavings. Use stale bread with olive oil or older tomatoes with olive oil as a first run, discard the batch and clean the machine. Please read the product manual found linked at the bottom of the page for more details.

As the premier distributor of Fabio Leonardi products in the USA I felt it was important to visit the factory and stand toe to toe with those that carry the commitment of quality in a company so rich in it's tradition of quality. I did just that in February of 2007 I saw the different generations tracing back the 99-year history of the company. The passion and commitment to quality was impressive. It wasn't that huge of a factory, and probably looked a lot like it did for the last half century. It was a modest structure not far from the center of Bologna, Italy.

I personally consider Bologna to be the culinary capital of the world with all the influences of Tuscany and Italy centered in one point of heavenly bliss. The passionate affair with food in this region is probably why this company's products are world renown for quality and longevity. Originally this company was focused on the local growers in Tuscany, helping them bring their harvest to market and transform the succulent tomatoes of the region to what are now world famous culinary creations of that region.