Last Updated on October 14, 2021 by Boniface Muriuki
Whether you’re making a sour or sweet lemon dessert, a citrus salad dressing, or preparing a fresh batch of lemonade, the chances are that you’ll be using a handheld lemon squeezer. However, how to use a lemon juicer perfectly is a constantly pain for many cooks!
For many, the lemon-juicing process is like: cutting the lemon into pieces, placing the pieces on a squeezer with the cut side facing down, and then squeezing.
But that juicing process is lengthy and cumbersome!
There are great methods to squeeze the lemon, such as using citrus juicers, centrifugal juicers, and masticating juicers—and the results will be appealing.
Now the question is how to use a lemon squeezer to get perfect results. This article offers an all-inclusive guide on how to use a lemon juicer (step by step guide).
How to Use a Lemon Juicer
In this section, we’ll look at 3 perfect answers to; how to use a lemon juicer. Each section will give a unique juicing method alongside a step-by-step guide on the requirements and the methodology.
- How to Use a Lemon Juicer – Citrus Juicers
Using a citrus juicer is one of the simplest ways you can use to juice the lemon. It’s not technical, and the juicer works only through squeezing the two lemon surfaces rather than smashing or slicing.
Before you make some fresh lemon juice, your ingredients must be in optimum quality and fresh as well. Never squeeze your fruits immediately you take them out of the refrigerator. Ensure your citrus fruits aren’t too cold. They must have room temperature before you juice them.
You can warm them for 23-30 seconds in the microwave if desired then allow them to cool for a minute.
Warm fruits are easy to juice.
Also, select ripe fruits that aren’t heavier nor hard. Harder fruits are hard to juice, and the best lemon to juice has a strong and sweet scent with a scar-free peel.
Prepare your lemon for squeezing.
- Roll the lemon using your hand. Hold it against the kitchen countertop then provide gentle and smooth pressure on it. Keep rolling the lemon back and forth to make the process lessen the inner segments of the fruit for easy juicing.
- Using a chef knife, cut the lemon across the center. You can cut it either lengthwise or crosswise to fit on the lemon juicer. If you want to harvest more juice, ensure you cut the lime or lemon LENGTHWISE.
- Cutting away the rind tip gives you extra power for using a manual squeezer.
Extract the Juice
- Prepare the squeezer then position the lemon slice on it. Make sure to place the cut side down to help you extract more juice as possible. The squeezer’s interior construction allows the lemon to fit appropriately. Additionally, the interior design of the squeezer must press the rind-end of your lemon.
- Positioning the cut side face-down will initially appear counter-intuitive. But if you leave the cut facing upwards, some of the juice can squirt upwards.
- With that done, bring the squeezer over a bowl or a pot. You’ll have to bring both handles together. Press on the other handle using your dominant handle. Be sure to provide adequate pressure to bring them close.
- Squeeze the juicer handles by placing one hand in front of the other hand. Make sure you grip the squeezer handles at the same time using both hands. Squeeze it severally until the juice stops coming out of the squeezer.
2. How to Use a Lemon Juicer – Masticating Lemon Juicer
This is a slow juicer. It delivers no heat when juicing your lemons and provides the best nutritional value. It’s the best for soft to solid fruits, citrus fruits, and vegetables.
A masticating juicer uses gears instead of blades and grinds your fruits instead of slicing them. Most masticating juicers have only one gear making them grind foods against the hard surface. Consequently, others have two gears. So there’s no need of peeling off the lemon.
After that, the juicer crushes the lemon fruit then emits the juice in a different container.
- During the juicing process, ensure you cut the lemon into smaller slices.
- Having done that, place the lemon inside the chute. A masticating juicer has an auger that crushes the lemon immediately it passes on the chute.
- With that, the juice and the pulp are later separated by squeezing the mixture immediately after the crushing process. The liquids then pass via a mesh, and the pulp is passed into a separate container. The juice too moves to a different case as clean without any pulp.
A masticating juicer needs ample time to juice as it operates slowly and controlled speed.
However, apart from being slow, the juice produced is fresh, thick, and full of nutrients and can stay for an extended period as they squeeze fruits slowly.
3. How to Use a Lemon Juicer – Centrifugal Lemon Juicers
These juicers function precisely like a blender as they have a high-speed rotation and features sharp blades to pierce the fruits, creating a free flow of juices. Apart from being suitable for lemon, it can work well with vegetables and fruits.
- When using centrifugal juicers, you must peel off the lemon. If the juicer lacks a part to gather the peel, then you must peel the fruits.
- Immediately after that, the juicing cycle starts by adding your lemon on the chute. However, before that, ensure you remove the plunger.
- After that, put a container beneath the spout to collect your juice. Plugin the juicer then press the lemons down swiftly using the plunger.
- Go on with the process by adding lemon the same way. However, you can see your lemon changing into juice then pouring the spout soon. To get more juice from the lemon fruits, make sure you continue running the juicer for an additional 15 seconds after the last fruit turns to juice.
How to Use a Lemon Juicer – Final Words
Using a lemon juicer to produce lemon juice is not an easy task! The way you juice the lemon can affect its final taste. For instance, if you use a handheld method, the final result will be a natural and real lemon juice.
But the quality won’t be the same as that processed using a juicer as they squeeze the lemon with the peel. But if you want to save time, prepare fresh lemon juice using a lemon juicer!
Chef Boniface is a graduate in Culinary Arts from the Institute of Culinary Education, New York. He has worked in several restaurants and is currently the Head Chef at Cavali Restaurant.
He has excelled in developing unique recipes and influencing the menu at the restaurant. He prides himself in sharing his knowledge at thekitchenpot.com where he writes about the best cookware for various recipes.
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