In fact, the Lotte fleet has been around since the 1930s: it is a passing device that is operated by hand. What many people don’t know, however, is that the product name is a protected trademark of Gefu, meaning only this company is allowed to name its kitchen appliances that way – all other manufacturers are not. Nevertheless, the term “Flotte Lotte” has become established in Germany when talking about a strainer that already had a permanent place in the kitchen in grandmother’s time. But how exactly do you use it and how do the common models differ? We’ll take you on a little journey through time.
On February 14, 1928, Victor Simon applied for a patent for his kitchen appliance, which he named “Passoire d’action rapide pour légumes et autres comestibles” – translated it roughly means “Rapid sieve for vegetables and other foods”. Only three years later, on February 16, 1931, Jean Mantelet had his “Presse-purée qui, sous l’action d’une lame hélicoïdale animée par une manivelle, comprime progressivement la matière contre un tamis conique” (Moulin-Légumes for short called, later renamed Légumex). In 1957 it finally became the Moulinex brand, which is still a well-known name in the kitchen industry today. In fact, it was Charlotte Giebel’s passing device that was brought onto the market in the 1930s and was colloquially known as the “Flotte Lotte”. However, the name has been a protected term of the Gefu company since the 1950s.
The popular kitchen appliance is primarily used to strain softly cooked vegetables or fruit. This is made possible by a bottom sieve through which the food is pressed – not with a spoon (or other aids), but with an inclined blade that is operated by hand. A crank causes the blade to rotate, ensuring that fine particles are pushed through the sieve and coarse ones get stuck in the sieve. For this reason, the “Flotte Lotte” is mostly used to make sauces or jam, porridge, puree or puree.
The functionality of modern passing devices is always the same. And from a purely visual perspective, the models almost all look the same. However, most devices differ from the original: In contrast to the “Fleet Lotte” from Gefu, the sieve in many models is not permanently integrated, but rather replaceable. Depending on the manufacturer, the strainer comes with three to four different graters, so you can decide for yourself how coarse or fine the result should be. And the size of the kitchen appliances can also vary: Depending on how much mass you want to sieve through a strainer at the same time, a small or larger model makes sense.
Those: Wikipedia
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