Citrus fruits can bring a nice brightness to baked goods, savory dishes, or fancy drinks. Often, you only need a few tablespoons of juice unless you’re making a pitcher of lemonade or a batch of whiskey sours. A manual citrus juicer is an effective way of squeezing lemons or limes without getting juice all over your hands and counter, or having to fish out citrus seeds.
Why Choose a Manual Lemon Juicer?
Manual juicers are handy when you need a tablespoon of lemon juice for salad dressing, are easy to clean, and can be stashed in a drawer.
The benefits of using a manual lemon juicer:
- Efficiency For squeezing lemons and limes, some juicers are as good as it gets.
- Speed When a recipe calls for just a few tablespoons or a quarter cup of citrus juice, you need something fast and simple that will get the job done quickly.
- Easy to Clean A good manual citrus juicer should be easy to wash by hand, and dishwasher-friendly ones are a plus.
- No Oil Extraction The pressing mechanism will extract too much oil from the orange’s skin, which is lovely for lemons and limes, but affects orange juice’s flavor too much.
Types of Manual Lemon Juicers
Reamers
A reamer is usually smaller and is used by pushing the device into the halved citrus, twisting it, and extracting the juice.
Press-Style Juicers
In contrast, a press-style juicer is different from a reamer. Because of their hinged design, handheld juicers and lemon squeezers on average performed better than countertop models and reamers.
How to Use a Manual Lemon Squeezer
- Prepare the Lemon: Cut the lemon in half.
- Position the Lemon: Resist the urge to place the round bottom of the fruit into the round bottom of the squeezer; the opposite is correct. The flat exposed bottom should face downward with holes below.
- Squeeze: Pop the lime in and give it a squeeze, and out comes the juice.
- Pour: Do a little pouring action.
Top Manual Lemon Juicer Recommendations
- Chef’n FreshForce Citrus Juicer: For squeezing lemons and limes, this juicer from Chef’n is as good as it gets. It produced a 38% yield from 10 lemons in under five minutes compared to a 30% yield from 10 lemons juiced by hand in nearly 9 minutes.
- KitchenAid Citrus Squeezer: It was just behind the Chef’n FreshForce Citrus Juicer in efficiency but sat flat on the countertop for extra leverage, keeping your wrists happy. It catches the juice, so you can pour it out from an integrated spout.
- Chef’n Citrus Juicester: At $17, it includes two reamers—one for lemons and limes plus another for oranges, and even grapefruits. It yielded 37% juice in just over 5 minutes.
- Zulay Kitchen 2-in-1 Lemon Lime Squeezer: This metal lemon lime squeezer effortlessly juices lemons, limes, small oranges, and more without any strain from your hands or wrists. This manual lemon squeezer gets every last drop of juice but won’t let seeds slip through the cracks.
Tips for Maximizing Juice Extraction
- Cut off the ends of the fruit.
- Give the fruit a quick slit to help open it up a little bit.
- If you have a really nice in-season fruit, it’s going to make a very satisfying sound when you squeeze it.
Cleaning and Maintenance
All of the handheld models tested were also dishwasher-safe, making cleanup even easier. Reamers are often made from wood and must be washed by hand.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re a seasoned chef or a home cook, a manual lemon juicer is an indispensable tool for any kitchen. With the right technique, you can extract every last drop of flavorful juice from your citrus fruits, enhancing your culinary creations with ease.