Rigamonti Passata Machine

Agree 100% with regards to cleaning the machine thoroughly after use. It can be frustrating until you 'get' how the white drum and fittings come apart. My machine came without instructions so it was trial and error taking it apart (press the white drum down and flick out with the back of a spoon then press down the centre of the white drum and push out the base the rest comes apart easily). It is by no means the perfect design for making passata but, for the price, it is what it is.

Best kitchen gadget I’ve bought in a long time. Makes quick work of the pounds of tomatoes from this years harvest.

Effective, but messy. It was necessary to put tomatoes through the machine several times to maximise output of sauce from the fruit.Overall very good. Recommended.

Excellent, well made, no problems with the handle. Suction cup is amazing. Using roma varieties with good sweetness the pulp is like nectar!,

Good for the money. There are complaints about 1. the handle breaking 2. It becoming unstuck1. This could be a problem if you try to force the tomatoes through too quickly. To lessen the strain hold the handle and the connecting link at the same time.2. The sucker works well if you have a smooth surface and if it is wetted. In fact it sticks so firmly then I think you could break the plastic of the machine if you tried to remove it without releasing the vacuum first.Other observations: It isn't the easiest thing to clean after useYou need to pass the tomatoes through the machine at least twice. If you don't you will have a poor yield of the "juice". I found three passes through the machine optimal. The machine is quite a startling red, I found this quite "artistic" but it might not be to everybody's taste.

Similar experience. It does work but regularly comes unstuck. Then after about 10 batches the handle snapped. Someone needs to make a solid metal version with a decent screw clamp like on a pasta machine.

I use mine loads - the trick is not to be too rough with it and remember to put the tomatoes through more than once.It is fiddly to clean, but works much better than a mouleeI haven't had a problem with it coming unstuck or broken handles - maybe I am kinder to mine.

I've just received the machine, so can't comment on longevity, but having processed 3kg of tommies from the allotment, I can say that it certainly works. I dipped the tomatoes into boiling water to loosen and split the skin, which made the machine much easier to crank. I put the waste skin and pips back through the machine twice to maximise the extraction. What was left was pretty dry. The quality of the passata is excellent, even with a mixture of English and Italian tomato varieties.I've given it 4 rather than 5 stars because, as others have said, the rubber sucker tends to drift around. Also the dimensions of some components aren't ideal. The handle is a little too long and brings your knuckles too close to the work surface. If you fill the receiving dish more than half full you need to spoon out the contents: if you tip it up to remove it, the passata will spill. And the chute for the waste isn't quite long enough.But none of these are more than minor criticisms.