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So today, I popped in my favorite used and new kitchen store and found one for $5 -- the perfect price tag for a kitchen gadget I wasn't sure about. I brought it home, I squeezed some lemons, and in a flash, I was in love. It's so easy and quick -- to use, to clean, to love.
But what about you? How do you juice your citrus, and which of the powerful triumvirate above gets used in your kitchen?
If the jury is still out for you, I recommend that yellow wonder of product.
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3-06-2009 @12:54PM Gary said... I use one of the squeeze ones as well. I find that if I cut the ends off of my lemons or limes that it makes it even easier to get all the juice out.
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3-06-2009 @1:11PM diana said... The squeeze one is my favorite as well. I got a smaller, green version and sometime larger lemons don't fit but I still love it - all juice, no seeds.
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3-06-2009 @6:42PM Uly said... I have a friend with an electric orange juicer. It doesn't juice, say, carrots - but wow does it go to town on your citrus fruits. It's like the one you used to have, but... well, electric, so it spins itself.
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3-06-2009 @1:23PM aaedible said... I use a knife and my fingers. There are some one-trick gadgets that are more easily justified than others. Citrus juicers, like garlic presses, are not on that list for me.
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3-06-2009 @1:31PM Schlake said... I just bought a Hamilton Beach model 292 commercial juicer. It arrives today, so I'll be trying it out soon. I got it for under $200!
http://www.hamiltonbeach.com/commercial-products-manual-commercial-citrus-juicer.html
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3-06-2009 @1:32PM Amy Z said... It depends what I'm doing. For some lemon or lime juice in a recipe, I just use a fork - it works great. If I want to make fresh squeezed juice for drinking though, something more like the top left. Especially for larger citrus. Of course, the electric kind, that drains into a glass is best for that, imo.
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3-06-2009 @2:40PM cabrown said... Squeeze. I haven't been in a Mexican household that doesn't have one.
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3-06-2009 @1:49PM Dean said... I have a wooden reamer that I bought for just a couple of bucks years ago and I've been very happy with it. It gets all the juice out. If I need to worry about seeds then I put squeeze the juice over a strainer.
The colorful squeezers look fun and probably do a great job, but I already have too much stuff in my kitchen drawers as it is.
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3-06-2009 @3:30PM Dana said... I have a simple wooden reamer that has done me for ages. I'm perfectly happy to keep on juicing with it. :)
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3-06-2009 @4:55PM Badger said... I'm a little embarrassed to say that I have all three varieties of juicer shown in the photo -- the kind in the upper left (only mine is heavy-duty plastic and fits over a little jar), a wooden reamer, and the yellow metal squeezer. The latter is a recent purchase and has quickly replaced the reamer as my juicer of choice.
With the reamer, I was forever fishing seeds and pulp out of my juice. My juicer like the one on the upper right has little holes that tend to clog up and it's hard to get clean. The squeezer gets out a TON of juice with no seeds or pulp -- perfect!
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3-06-2009 @6:13PM thefishie said... I have a citrus trumpet, a little gadget from Williams-Sonoma that works ok on lemons & limes. The best thing I've found to use when I need a lot of juice quickly is my blender. Granted, it's a Blendtec and will turn whole frozen oranges and hockey pucks alike into a decimated liquefied goo in seconds, but it does the job. For little tasks, the trumpet or just the good 'ole squeeze and strain works.
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3-06-2009 @5:32PM SaraFist said... My sister got both the lemon and lime squeezers for Christmas a few years ago, and I haven't been that impressed by them. I stick with the old style.
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3-07-2009 @8:55AM Savor The Thyme said... I use the 'yellow wonder of a product' however, mine is white so now I want a colorful one. :(
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3-07-2009 @1:16PM hoppy said... I use the yellow squeezer, and like it. After a few months the yellow paint began chipping off. The metal underneath is scary looking, like it might leach something unhealthy into the juice.
Has anyone tried the plastic version of the same tool?
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3-07-2009 @2:38PM Matt said... I love recipe idiosyncrasies, like in the "1/4 cup" Megnut recipe. It calls for 1/4 cup of chopped garlic, but "4 tablespoons" of cream.
4 tablespoons == 1/4 cup.
It's like the author wanted to make it seem like there was a lot of garlic but not a lot of cream. :-)
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3-07-2009 @2:45PM Matt said... My apologies. I wrote a decent comment about this, but some browser login-cache issue wound up posting a comment from a long time ago. I meant to say (and I have to rewrite it now):
A while back, Cook's Illustrated tested some hand juicers when making Key Lime Pie (or bars) and they found that the press models worked the best. They also found that the colored ones (orange, yellow, green) would chip or degrade over time, so when I bought, I bought this one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002IBOAK?ie=UTF8&tag=gcsfincorporated&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B0002IBOAK
I paid $26 for it just under a year ago, and I love it. It's all stainless steel, so even when I soak it (I hand-wash all dishes), it cleans up fine. It gets tons of juice out of each lemon or lime (or small orange—large oranges don't work so well in it). Cook's Illustrated said, and I've found it's true, that when using hand press juicers, you should not microwave the fruit for a few seconds or press it hard on the counter. When the fruit is hard from the fridge, the press crushes the cell walls and the juice flows. If you've softened the cell walls, the pressure from the juicer only bends the cell walls instead of breaking them, and juice stays in the fruit. So it's effective and eliminates a step!
Reamers are OK, but you have to use the wooden reamers, not the metal ones. Reamers are most effective when their ridges are sharp. Wooden reamers have sharper ridges than metal ones, so while you might think the metal ones (like the Oxo Good Grips) will last longer, they're simply not as effective in extracting juice.
But I love my Norpro stainless steel juice presser. It's an excellent kitchen tool, especially since I use lemons and limes far more often than oranges.
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3-10-2009 @11:02AM Eric Braun said... I just happened upon the green squeeze type when I was starting to develop some tendinitis after a long weekend of margarita making.
It was a revelation, never looked back. The one I have can be a little small for larger limes, but I usually use the smaller key limes.
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3-09-2009 @12:32PM Shelly H said... I will occasionally go to a local diner that specializes in German Pancakes with a lemon juice topping. They microwave their lemons and just use a fork to get the juice/pulp at the table.
Surprisingly effective. I started using this method at home and it works great. Let the citrus cool a little so you won't burn yourself.
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3-10-2009 @12:18PM katie said... I have a version of the yellow squeezy one from williams-sonoma that i love. it has two layers for lemons and limes so you can make sure you get every bit of juice.
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku7662000/index.cfm?pkey=cctlfvtcit
it's more expensive than i'd have bought myself (yay stocking stuffers!), but maybe you can find one used...
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