Squeeze, Juice & Zest

With Summer comes citrus – in dressings, pies, salads, pastas, and more. So light and refreshing!  What tools do we use when cooking with oranges, lemons and limes?

Just a squeeze to remove the seeds:
We use the Amco Enameled Aluminum Orange Squeezer! Just cut the lemon, lime or orange in half; open the easy to use squeezer and place the fruit inside the squeezer with the fruit’s curved side up, close the squeezer, and compress handles together. (It’s fun!) The pits remain inside and the juice flows through the tiny holes at the bottom. Amco also makes a smaller lemon/lime size squeezer, but we believe in “kosher for less” and this size actually fits all!

A little more than a squeeze: 
When we need larger amounts of fresh lemon, lime or orange juice we use the Black & Decker CJ625 30-Watt 34-Ounce Citrus Juicer. It is easy to use – just place halved citrus fruit on top of the cone and replace the lid. The bottom plastic pitcher catches the juice and serves as a pouring vessel. We like this model because it is small and easily stored, has adjustable pulp control, includes large and small cones and, best of all, is inexpensive – $20 or less. In summer, we like to juice larger amounts of lemons and freeze for later use – this model works for our needs. Read our Kitchen Secret & Tip, Always Have Fresh Lemon Juice Ready.

Zesting Citrus:
When a recipe calls for orange, lemon or lime zest, our tool of choice is the simple, long handled grater-zester by Microplane. There are other more expensive and fancier ones available, but this is our favorite. It is easy to use, has an 8 1/2 inch stainless steel grater and is a value! It also works well on cheeses, such as

Three yummy recipes using citrus are Orange Blossom Cocktail, Lemon–Lime Chicken, Lime Poppy See Pound Cake, and Fresh Fruit Salad with Honey-Lime Dressing. Enjoy!

If you want to know all about citrus…selecting, using, shaping, please visit this informative site by Sunkist.

How to make homemade lemonade – the perfect summer drink!

May 16, 2011