You might think that you already know the answer to this question; it’s not rocket science after all is it? All we’re talking about is how to squeeze an orange! Pretty standard and something no doubt you’ve done on many an occasion either for a favorite recipe, cocktail or more commonly to prepare a delicious fresh-tasting glass of pure homemade orange juice for your family.
You’re probably familiar then with the seemingly endless amount of oranges that it physically takes to make one refreshing glass full! Seriously, do oranges even have juice inside them? It might turn out that actually, you don’t know how to squeeze an orange at all. At least not the most effective and juice yielding way!
Our top hacks on squeezing the correct way
Of course, there are a number of ways you might choose to squeeze an orange, from the good old manual way to using a dedicated citrus press. So let’s uncover some top tips that will relieve you of those pips and provide you with nothing but delicious and fresh tasting pure orange juice. We’re feeling rather pithy today, can’t you tell! We must be energized after that refreshing glass of breakfast juice we enjoyed earlier today.
Squeezing your oranges by hand
First up let’s start with the cheap and cheerful but certainly convenient way of squeezing oranges. By hand of course. Sometimes the proper old-fashioned techniques are the best, and no amount of technology can do the job any better. Squeezing oranges might be just one of those tasks. First up we recommend that you soften up your orange first and make sure that it is nicely warm. You can try rolling it across a hard countertop a couple of times or just tightly squeeze the orange in your first. The reason for this is that the heat will activate the moisture and soften the internal membrane surrounding the flesh of your fruit which is going to make your juice yield so much more abundant.
Next up you need to slice your orange in half, directly and evenly down the middle with a good sharp and clean knife. Nobody enjoys seeds in fresh orange juice or in that citrus-based cocktail you are about to concoct so make sure that you remove all of the seeds before moving on to the next stage. If this all sounds like too much hard work, then you can always buy something like a Navel orange which is naturally seedless and will avoid this stage in the squeezing process.
Next up is the fun part! Squeezing the life out of that orange half! You could imagine that’s a certain someone who you currently have beef with just to get rid of some extra pent-up aggression. Otherwise, grip the orange half firmly in your hand and get squeezing. If you have a plain, plastic juicer, even better as this will coax the last drops of juice out of your orange half.
A good trick next is to take a spoon and scrape out all the remaining pulp. Some people do actually like a bit of chewy flesh in their orange juice, whether they are making it homestyle fresh or purchasing a carton from the convenience store. If you are an orange juice purist, then you are probably going to want to pour your juice through a strainer to get that really smooth taste and texture before drinking.
Drink up but make sure it’s refreshingly crisp and cold to really savor the flavor
Most oranges are already pretty sweet so you shouldn’t really need to add anything further, but if you do have a particularly sweet tooth you could add some sugar or if you prefer a bit of a zing, a pinch of black salt or a hint of cayenne makes a great addition. We also recommend that you drink your unpasteurized, freshly hand squeezed, orange juice refrigerator cool.
If you are lucky enough to have an electric juicer, life is simpler still
For this technique, rather than slicing your oranges in half, you are going to want to quarter them unless you are using a smaller citrus fruit like a mandarin or satsuma for example. You can probably get away with just halving these types of oranges.
Depending upon what make and brand of juicer you have and its various fixtures and features, you usually will need to process the orange segments through the top fixed feed tube. Please ensure that you have a vessel in place below the chute so that you capture all that lovely fresh juice that is going to start trickling out of the other end. There are some excellent juicers around that are perfect for dealing with citrus fruits and come with an adjustable pulp extraction setting so if you have invested in a model that has this functionality incorporated, then make sure you select just the right setting to appeal to you and your family’s preferences. This could be totally smooth and pulp free, or with some fresh bits of orange thrown in.
You can also use a blender or a food processor to squeeze your oranges
Again, assuming that you have one of these common multi-tasking appliances in your kitchen already, a food processor or blender does a great job of also squeezing those oranges. You will, of course, require more preparation if you are adopting this method. First up, of course, you are going to have to actually peel your oranges and then cut or tear them into smaller, more manageable chunks of no more than 1-inch.
Take care to remove any unwanted seeds. If you have a high pulse setting, then that’s the best one to put your oranges onto to ensure that they become really well pureed. Zapping them a few times on continuous should do the trick but if your orange is still resembling more of a mixture than it is a juice, go ahead and add some water and a little bit of sugar or sweetener if it’s too sharp for your palette. Blitz again with your blender and then you should be ready to serve and enjoy, although we do recommend that you allow a couple of minutes to let your freshly blended juice sit and settle first before you consume.
So there you have it, three tried and tested techniques that you can adopt at home to squeeze those oranges and prepare your own fresh and delicious, highly nutritious unpasteurized orange juice.