By Handy Finds Club · November 7, 2026
Research-based recommendations. Our approach.
Start with the apples
A bowl of applesauce is a weekend kitchen project with two separate jobs: turn softened apples into sauce, then decide whether you want a little ginger. The OXO Good Grips Food Mill handles the first job by hand. A Microplane Professional Series grater can prepare the optional flavoring.
Cook the apples until soft before milling. For measurements and a full method, GrowNYC's Simple Applesauce recipe is linked below. It cooks quartered apples, lets them cool enough to handle, then passes them through a food mill. The mill does not cook the fruit.
Choose the texture
OXO's instructions recommend the fine or medium disc for applesauce. Assemble the mill as directed, unfold its legs, and set it securely over a suitable bowl or pot. Turn the knob clockwise to press the softened fruit through the disc; reverse it regularly to reposition the food.
The current OXO Food Mill includes fine, medium, and coarse discs. Consider it if you want to make sauce by hand and choose a disc for the texture you prefer. If a fork already gives you the chunky sauce you like, keep using it.
Make the ginger optional
Fresh ginger adds a different flavor to the apples; it is optional in GrowNYC's recipe. For a measured variation, Whole Foods Market's Ginger Applesauce uses 1 tablespoon of grated fresh ginger for 3 pounds of apples and simmers it with the fruit. Follow the complete recipe you choose.
Microplane's 2026/2027 catalog lists ginger among the uses for the Professional Series Coarse blade. The older grater in our photo has the widely spaced, U-shaped teeth of a coarse-style blade. Its exact model is unverified, and it is not the current catalog product.
Choose a grater for the texture you want and use your recipe's amount. Keep a suitable grater you already own, or skip the ginger if you prefer plain applesauce. You do not need both new tools.
Match the version to your needs
The OXO photo dates from 2013 and the Microplane photo from 2012. Neither establishes the exact model now sold. The current US Microplane 2.0 design differs, and the old OXO photo does not confirm today's capacity or included discs.
Both Amazon buttons open paid product-family searches, which can include different variants and unrelated items. Check the selected model, included parts, blade type, and seller. Manufacturer links are ordinary links. We have not used these tools or tested this pairing.
The scene combines historical product photos with an AI-generated setting and food. The empty mill is resting beside a bowl of applesauce; it does not demonstrate milling or show a tested result.
Sources & further details
Manufacturer links show current specifications, variants, and availability. Check those details before ordering.
Photo sources and image license
Food mill photo: Oxo Brand Food Mill by Dwight Burdette, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0. Photographed March 8, 2013; exact model, capacity, and disc set unverified.
Grater photo: Microplane by Denkhenk, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Photographed June 16, 2012. Professional/coarse-style identification is based on appearance; the exact model is unverified.
Changes: the product photos were cropped, cut out, resized proportionally, and repositioned, with separate shadow layers. They were combined with an AI-generated counter, apples, applesauce, ginger, bowl, spoon, and cloth. Text and product labels were added to the social versions.
Composite by Handy Finds Club, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. View the full-resolution scene. The original food mill photo remains CC BY 3.0. This image license does not apply to the guide text. No endorsement by the photographers, OXO, or Microplane is implied.
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