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Lesson 05 – Difficulty: Easy
Using a Citrus Squeezer doesn’t have to be a complicated process. Don’t worry about the color of your citrus squeezer as most are yellow. You can still squeeze limes with a yellow squeezer and won’t be crucified! While they do make lime-specific citrus squeezers (aka “a lime squeezer”) we always default to a typical lemon squeezer because of size. The lemon squeezer works wonders because it does both lemon or lime and saves you money and space. A true lime squeezer is smaller and struggles to squeeze a larger lemon.
The Home Bartender Starter Kit here at AwesomeDrinks.com comes with the very basic enameled lemon squeezer. If you’re just starting out your career in home bartending you don’t have to invest in a more expensive squeezer. The Chef’n ForceFresh Lemon Squeeze will squeeze 20% more juice but will cost you more money. You’re learning how to make cocktails for the first time, a 20% increase in your juice output is probably not yet worth the added cost.
Using a Citrus Squeezer Step-by-Step
Step 1 Cut your citrus (lemon or lime usually) in half down the center such that the stem-portion is on one side and the bottom portion of the lemon/lime “nipple” is on the other. Step 2 Also take the time to cut the nipple and stem portions off to leave a flat top/bottom, making the press give equal pressure across the fruit. Step 3 Place the citrus into your squeeze cut side down so the pressure is applied to the top of the skin portion of your citrus. This allows the fleshy citrus inside to squeeze through the little holes at the bottom of your citrus squeezer. Step 4 Apply good pressure until the citrus has exhausted all of its precious juice. We suggest pressing your fresh juice into a Japanese Double Jigger. This helps capture the right measure you need for the drink. Or, squeeze your juice into a large glass that you can use to store all the excess juice you will not need. Personally, we just a bunch of citrus into our mixing glass because it has a pour spout. Step 5 You’re done!Double Straining Helps!
You may find that using fresh citrus often gets the “fleshy bits” into your cocktail. Some folks like the flesh ‘pulp’ floating in their drink as it adds more flavor. Others want a crystal clean looking drink, for those folks we suggest utilizing a conical tea strainer to get the job done. This simple tool keep both the pulp and any ice shards out of your drink.
You can extract the those fleshy bits and any ice shards by shaking and straining your drink into the tea strainer which you hold over your cocktail glass. This is called “double straining” and adds just a bit more cleanliness to your cocktail creations. It allows your drink to pass through both the hawthorne strainer for larger bits (and big ice) then pass through the tea strainer for fine strain.
See, using a citrus squeezer isn’t that hard at all. Those that make the largest mistakes tend to put the citrus into the citrus squeezer upside down. Reversing the citrus often results in a mess of juice all over your table and bar tools!
Watch Lesson 01: Essential Bar Tools For Beginner Cocktail Enthusiasts.
Watch Lesson 02: Using a Japanese Double Jigger – Essential Bar Tools.
Watch Lesson 03: Using a Boston Shaker – Essential Bar Tools.
