I am only giving this 4 stars for one reason.  The mesh is so fine it is hard to get dried stuff out of it even though I hand wash and check and dig out a pin to poke stuff out which is tedious to the max.  Other than that It's wonderful for a lot straining.  You need the finer mesh for lots of things, but I don't like it for sifting; a little thicker mesh is faster.  It's very well made, good quality.  My daughter was using it to strain coffee she was making and really liked it, should get her one.