What is your favorite hand lime juicer?

I have been wanting to get one of the hand lime juicer/squeezers for some time now but really want to get a GOOD one.

I already have the mechanized juicer for tall orders but I have nothing for a single drink or two.

Any recommendations? I have seen some folks put the 1/2 lime in backwards and juice it. Which method works best for you?

backwards!

Hey MM, you're talking about these things, right? You can get them at any "Pottery Barrel".

I always put the half lime in "backwards", with the cut side facing the holes in the concave part.

I have the same one, but it's yellow & bigger for lemons. I've found the smaller green one is only big enough for small limes and key limes.

I think I found mine at Target.

They also make a larger one in orange, for, well, oranges!

They are by far the best juicers I've used. A lot better (and less messy) than a reamer, plus you get the oils from the peel that I'm always going on about!

Be careful, however: I use mine a lot and I've already busted 2 of these (a green/lime and a yellow/lemon) by squeezing too hard on a lime that was hard as a rock. I know it's tempting to buy that big-ass bag o'limes at CostCo/Sams Club, but they're usually pretty dense and it's much more worth your time to track down a neighborhood grocer or Farmer's Market for limes instead. Otherwise, if your limes aren't 'soft' enough, be sure to roll 'em a bit before squeezing.

Fortunately, these juicers must have some sort of warranty on them, as the place that I bought them from (Cookin' Stuff in Torrance) happily exchanged them for new ones, even though I'd purchased them months before and didn't even have the receipt!

The green one is a mite small, but the yellow one is the ideal size and has got the Good Doctor's seal of approval for most/all your drink juicin' needs! :)

Get a vintage solid metal Juice King. Don't pay over $10 for one. That is solid and easy crank. Pop it down and you have all the juice ein that sucker! Forget plastic and forget hand squeezing. Use good old cranked steel.

I put my daughter on jioce detail or ice crushing detail.

I'm with Z.

Although with as many limes and lemons as I squeeze through the yellow metal contraption, I recently crushed the hand of a professional football player during a friendly handshake and he sued me for loss of wages.

Thank goodness I'm a billionaire.

thanks everybody. just what I needed to know

I too have a Juice King but I don't like messing it up by actually using it! :wink: The thing was mint when I bought it and if no one used it when it was new I figured I'd just keep the streak going!

Instead, I use a Sunbeam electric juicer that I bought at one of those bargain outlet places - I paid $9.00 for it and have definitely gotten my money's worth. I buy those big ass bags of limes, when available, and juice them all at one time! Sure it doesn't look cool or proper in a tiki bar that's why I always do my juicing in the kitchen alongside the toaster and coffee maker...

Get the OrangeX Juicer! Either the Medium or the large. Nice handle with an effortless snap-action that comes straight down for maximum leverage and minimum danger of tipover. It'll set you back over 100 clams, but gawd is it good. I've never missed a penny of that money well-spent.

I got one very similar looking to the one Tikibot posted of picture of.

It was from Crate and Barrel (I had a gift certificate - the lime squeezer and a can opener came to $25! ouch!).

Like Dr Z., I used the thing twice and the hinge broke. Don't know my own strength. That, or these things just use a really crappy aluminum bolt through the hinge that a baby could break.

They gave me a new one, but now I am scared to squeeze it too hard.

I may go blind, or something.

Iorana!

JT

http://www.tydirium.net
Tiki Bar Review Pages / Tiki Road Trip / Left Orbit Temple

[ Edited by: tikibars on 2005-05-20 14:15 ]

I use one just like the green one except it is cast aluminum, not plastic.

They come from mexico, you can find one in most kitchen store for under $10

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/pDetail.asp?i=3&p=55

Just used my green metal one to squeeze 18 key limes last night, did the job very nicely!

The yellow or green hand squeezers do break easily (no wonder, it's made in China), so I use my old Juice-O-Mat nowadays. The nice thing about this contraption is the pour spout in the juice receptacle that makes it easy to pour the juice into a measuring glass. With the hand squeezers it's hard to squeeze the juice into a small measuring glass without spilling some (unless you juice into a bigger container first, or straight into a shaker).

The Juice-O-Mat came in 2 types, a taller one without a built-in receptacle and a shorter one with a built-in container which looks more streamlined. They are pretty easy to find for around $10.

We have all 3 squeezers that Mr. Bot posted, (lime, lemon, orange) they were on sale at Sur La Table, and they're metal, and we've squeezed A LOT of fruit, and they're still going strong. I've squeezed the 24 lemons and oranges for Trader Vic's punch, and I only had to stop and rest once, on the lemons.Then I sent him into the neighbors yardfor riper lemons, the store boughts were too hard :)
mrs. p

I have both the yellow and green hand juicer. Here too, both broke. The pin in the hinge is just too weak. I repaired both with nails. I just popped a right sized nail in and bent the end with plyers. They will not break again.

I have tried three different types of hand juicers:

For me the yellow/green ones from China work the best.

An inexpensive bare metal from from Mexico was a disappointment due to less leverage and quick corrosion.

The third one is a hand juicer from Oxo. This one has a rubber pad on the handle. No corrosion problems. Better leverage than the Mexican one but not as good as the ones from China.

Now the problem is that the paint on the yellow juicer from China is starting to chip off so until I buy a replacement, I'm using the one from Oxo.

And of course for mass production I use an electric juicer. It's called "Juice-It" and it's from Proctor-Silex. It works great but at times seems a little under powered. But hey, it was a gift!

ok, now that we've got the juice squeezers down, how about ice crushers? when we have parties we go to the meat counter at Albertsons and ask the manager if we can fill up a cooler with clean crushed ice, but for regular mid week maitais, the hand cranked one is tedious, and the vintage one mr. bot bought on ebay for $20 died aftger 2 rounds, plus it smelled weird...

ICE CRUSHERS????
I know there was thread on these a while ago...
mrs. p

On 2005-05-16 19:29, Swanky wrote:
Get a vintage solid metal Juice King. Don't pay over $10 for one. That is solid and easy crank. Pop it down and you have all the juice ein that sucker! Forget plastic and forget hand squeezing. Use good old cranked steel.

Hey Swanky I just saw Juice King at a thrift store for $8 and want to pick it up. Question for ya - are these things easy to clean?

For individual drinks I use a metal hand lime juicer I bought at Wal-Mart. For quantity, I use a Betty Crocker Citrus Juicer (electric) - both work quite well.

For crushing ice, I use a Lewis Ice Bag. Had an electric ice crusher but it finally died. The Lewis Ice bag never dies.

GH

I use a heavy-duty metal hand squeezer that I bought at Ace Mart restaurant supply store. After nearly thirty years of Mai Tai mixing, this is my favorite lime squeezer (all the rest eventually frustrated me back to hand squeezing). It was pricey (about $11), but it works much better than the plastic ones. The lime is held more securely and as the rind goes through a sharp bend, lots of oil is forced out. The shell is shiny and literally dripping with fragrant lime oil after the squeeze. And, unlike the plastic ones, it won't break. You could probably stand on it!
After reading this thread, I discovered that I couldn't find this tool in Ace Mart's online store, or anywhere else online. Now I'm worried, and can't wait to get back by the store to pick up an extra.

I like that style much better myself. No paint, good quality and made by the good folks in Texas.

I checked with Ace and they don't sell them online for some reason only through their brick and mortar outlets. Apparently Ace also doesn't care to ship from their individual stores only the online store, but they've bent this policy before :D

If anyone is interested in one here's the number to the San Antonio store 210.323.3500.

Picked up a nice, heavy, chrome squeezer. $25, but makes a nice show.

FWIW...if you slice an "X" across the top of your lime half, you'll get a bit more juice.

On 2005-05-16 18:32, Tiki-bot wrote:
Hey MM, you're talking about these things, right? You can get them at any "Pottery Barrel".

I always put the half lime in "backwards", with the cut side facing the holes in the concave part.

I'm an idiot - I bought one of those and broke it putting the lime in the opposite way. I bought another one last night ($3.99 at Ralphs supermarket in the Mexican food section!) and put the lime in that way...much better, thanks for the tip.

I got the juicer from Williams Sonoma that has a middle piece allowing it to do lemons and limes depending on size. Twenty bucks but I use it a lot and have yet to break it.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku7662000/index.cfm?pkey=xsrd0m1%7C16%7C%7C%7C0%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7Cjuicer&cm%5Fsrc=SCH

It is not a manual juicer but it is the cat's meow.

http://www.amazon.com/Tribest-Citristar-Electric-Citrus-Juicer/dp/B000H6V06A/ref=pd_sim_hg_4

Ours is made by Philips but it is the same juicer. I have to admit the motor they used for this thing is FANTASTIC. I have never seen this unit bog down with any amount of pressure I apply. Easy to use and clean. We also buy bags and boxes of citrus from Costco and the like and end up with lots of tasty juice! haha....

I squeeze several hundred limes a year, making Conch Ceviche, and have only found one juicer that really works great, and lasts. A vintage "Wear Ever" brand juicer, which has a strainer, and a catches the juice in the bottom. These things are indestructable, you could juice a golf ball with it! I actually have several, one for the house, one for the camping kit, and one on each boat.......you can never have to many toys!!

[ Edited by: Bahama Don 2009-10-02 17:51 ]

Presumably, the orange one is for oranges, the yellow one for lemons, and the green one for limes, but in practice:

Green – Use for Key Limes
Yellow – Use for Persian Limes
Orange – Use for Lemons

You would be hard pressed, so to speak, to find oranges small enough to fit into the orange squeezer.

The ones I use, shown above, are the ones available from World Market. I mainly use Key Limes, so my green one gets the most wear. There is no real wear on the hinge pin, but the acid from the fruit does take its toll on the ceramic surface over time. Washing the juice off immediately after use prevents any real deterioration. After years of use, the original shiny surface on mine is now slightly dull. That's it; otherwise, good as new.

On 2009-10-02 17:48, Bahama Don wrote:
.....These things are indestructable, you could juice a golf ball with it!

:D mmmmmm! Mai Tai with a squeeze of Titleist!

Good recommendation, btw. I need to duplicate my bar for camping trips.

I found one of these puppies locally, from a former Metrokane rep. Works really well, and is easy on the hands if you're juicing more than two or three. Next best thing to a fancy electric model.

"The Original Citrus Juicer -- classic retro '50's design"

• World's largest-selling mechanical juicer
• Internationally acclaimed design -- featured in many museums
• Leverages up to 600 pounds of pressure
• 7 1/2 inches high, 4 1/2 pounds
• Lifetime warranty on moving parts
• Top-of-the-line model
• Stainless steel cone and funnel

I have broken the single half, hand juicers, so I am a little more careful now.

When it comes to juicing a lot, nothing beats the vintage Rival Juice-O-Mat. Available on Ebay all the time. There are various models. Try to make sure you get the ones that tilt up out of the way at their most open, and be sure to get one with the catch. Some do not open up fully when all the way open and are hard to get the spent shells out and new ones in. You can't break them and you can juice a bag of limes in a few minutes. Slice, put in a half, close handle, remove. It's about that fast. 2 seconds a side.

I use what Tiki-bot uses. Very efficient & quick.

I've found, for small sessions, the OXO juicer works well. Somewhere on the Internets I saw a tip to cut the tips of each lime half off to extra a bit more juice and that helped extraction also.

For larger gatherings, the juicer attachment to a Kitchen Aid food processor works well, as long as you're willing to commit the time ahead of time and juice 20-30 (or more) limes at once.

kevin

I take back my earlier post. My WilliamsSonoma hand juicer broke and they would not exchange it for me. And they rejected my "review" on their website explaining about how their lousy product broke. Don't buy anything with the WilliamSonoma branding on it. They just suck. I work for Peet's Coffee. We have almost as many stores and we have all been told to return anything that breaks, regardless of how old it is (especially something with our name on it).

I have three juicers. One is the kind with the reamer and bowl to collect the juice--I use that one when I want to save my shell for garnish. The second is the Mexican press--I use the yellow one for both lemons and limes. And the third is this vintage Ebaloy, which I learned about from Robert Hess' YouTube series, The Cocktail Spirit, and mostly use for larger citrus, like oranges:


I like these by Amco Houseworks (they make one each for oranges, lemons, and limes). The center section gives you additional leverage. I also a) cut the ends of the fruit, to give a flatter surface and better/more even pressure on the rind, and b) score an "X" pretty deeply on the cut half of the citrus in question. Tons of juice doing things this way.

If a particular fruit is too big for the big (i.e., "orange") juicer, like, say, a grapefruit, I just cut it into a quarter wedge and line it up so that the long way of the wedge is running along the same line of the handle, then I just juice away.

When the time comes to juice for a brigade of people, I grab one of those countertop lever models.