If there’s one thing that can be said about deciding between a juicer or lemon squeezer, it’s that many people don’t know the differences and need help figuring out which device is better for their needs.
It’s known that both give you the ability to extract juice from citrus fruits, but it’s still important to answer, is a citrus juicer or lemon squeezer better for lemons? Below are the essential things you need to know about both small appliances to find the best partner for lemons.
What is a Citrus Juicer?
Citrus juicers are typically automated devices that are designed to extract pulp, juice, and seeds from everyday citrus fruits ranging from oranges to lemons. What makes these devices so unique is the fact that they are completely mechanical, taking away all of the energy that you would usually need in order to get the most juice out of your fruits.
With that being said, they are inherently more difficult to clean, but they certainly help cut preparation time in half, if not more, depending on what you’re cooking or baking.
The Benefits
There are plenty of great things you’ll experience from using a citrus juicer, including:
- Time efficient: Since the machine will do all of the work for you, using a citrus juicer is going to cut down the amount of time it takes to get a lot of juice out of a lemon.
- Extracts more juice: The biggest benefit to using a citrus juicer is that it enables you to get more juice than ever before, simply because the device will core all of the flesh out of the lemon and extract as much juice as possible.
- Easy to use: For people who are dealing with health concerns, such as arthritis, the idea of using a manual squeezer is too much to handle. A juicer, on the other hand, takes the pain and difficulty out of manually extracting juice.
The Disadvantages
Designed for the everyday homeowner, these appliances do have a couple of detriments, including:
- Costly: Considering a citrus juicer is seen as a mechanical kitchen appliance, you can guarantee that it’s going to be more expensive than a manual squeezer. Depending on the model you choose, you can spend at least $300 for a basic juicer.
- Difficult to clean: There are a bunch of different parts inside of a juicer that helps to extract pulp, seeds, and even little bits of rinds. This means that you’re going to have to take more time in order to make sure that the device is properly cleaned prior to storing it away.
- Takes time to learn: Although a citrus juicer is mostly ready to use right out of the box and has a simple on/off button, it does take time to learn how to use one to the best of your ability. You can guarantee that after your first couple of uses, you’re going to have a lot of lemon juice on your countertops until you get the hang of juicing.
What is a Lemon Squeezer?
To better help answer the question, “Is a citrus juicer or lemon squeezer better for lemons?” it’s important to know what a squeezer does as well. Although a lemon squeezer isn’t an automated machine, it gives you the ability to squeeze as much juice as you would want out of a lemon.
These devices are designed to give you the ability to control the amount of juice that you collect, helping you save more fruit than if you were to use a motorized juicer. On the other hand, a lemon squeezer can be quite difficult to operate as you’ll be solely responsible for literally squeezing the juice out of a lemon, rather than allowing a machine to do it.
The Benefits
A few of the best benefits of using a lemon squeezer include the following:
- Cost effective: If you’re not interested in investing more than $20 just to get the juice out of a lemon, then a lemon squeezer is exactly what you need. These handheld devices are very cost effective mainly because you will have to do all of the work manually.
- Low maintenance: As opposed to citrus juicers, a lemon squeezer is a very simple kitchen tool, so you don’t have to worry about cleaning a ton of different parts in order to safely store the machine until it’s next use. It can be cleaned just as easily as a fork or a knife.
- Saves or protects your skin: For people who are dealing with sensitive skin, a citrus squeezer can be quite beneficial as it keeps the citric acid away from your delicate hands. The only time you’ll have to touch a lemon is when you’re putting it into the squeezer and throwing the rind away.
The Disadvantages
A couple of issues that you might encounter with a lemon squeezer include:
- Difficulty removing seeds: Not all lemon squeezers are created equally, and many make it difficult to prevent seeds from entering your juice. Unfortunately, that means you could spend extra time fishing seeds out of your bowl or glass, which only adds to your preparation time.
- It can be messy: When you’re using a squeezer, you need to make sure that the device is held perfectly over a container; otherwise, there’s the risk of juice squirting out of the sides or dribbling onto your counters.
Which is Best: Citrus Juicer or Lemon Squeezer?
If you’re still wondering, is a citrus juicer or lemon squeezer better for lemons, it’s likely that a citrus juicer has the upper hand mostly because it will do all of the work for you. You’ll surely have to put more effort into keeping the appliance clean and setting it up may take longer, but it helps you to get more juice in a more straightforward fashion and in far less time. If you have the money to invest in a new appliance for working with citrus fruits, it’s recommended that you purchase a citrus juicer to help you create your next dish.