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A good kitchen hack can feel like priceless knowledge, and it should<\/em> make meal prep, cooking, and life in general easier. But as you\u2019ll soon learn, not all hacks are created equally\u2013or at least, not all of them make life in the kitchen truly “easier.”\n<\/p>\n One messy, time-consuming culinary undertaking\u2013juicing citrus\u2013has inspired the creation of many hacks in particular. From traditional methods to “gasp\u2013that works?!” tricks, we rounded up six tricks of the trade for juicing citrus and tested them on fresh lemons to find the most main squeeze-worthy method.\n<\/p>\n Whether you\u2019re whipping up a batch of fresh lemonade, homemade lemon bars, or another tart and delicious recipe, we’re revealing the best way to extract freshly-squeezed juice.\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We used lemons as our citrus subject for this experiment, but these juicing tricks should work about the same across any citrus fruit. The lemons were the same size and weight and at the perfect stage of ripeness for juicing (they weren\u2019t overly firm and gave a little when gently squeezed).\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Surprisingly, all of the methods below yielded approximately the same amount (1\/4 cup) of lemon juice. (As it turns out, a lemon typically has 2 to 3 tablespoons of juice inside.) Since the yield was the same, we chose to rank our results based on other factors, including messiness, amount of seeds and pulp left in the juice after squeezing, and relative ease in executing the hack.\n<\/p>\n Here are our favorite ways to juice citrus, from top to bottom.\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Definitely the cleanest and easiest to perform, the manual juice press only involves making one knife cut\u2014slice your fruit down the middle\u2014and two squeezes for perfect juice extraction using a tried-and-true tool. This also makes cleanup easy. The only caveat here is that the harder you press, the more pulp you are likely to extract. If that doesn\u2019t bother you, then feel free to test your grip strength to get as much juice as you can out of that citrus.\n<\/p>\n Pro tip: This Allstar-approved gadget makes for the easiest citrus pressing in our tests.\n<\/p>\n DOTDASH MEREDITH FOOD STUDIOS<\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n Only one knife cut is needed for using the reamer, and the process of twisting to extract the juice is simple, but this method yields more in the way of pulp and seeds, as well as dishes, than the press. That being said, it\u2019s relatively easy to pour the juice through a sieve to remove any unwanted pulp or seeds. For the best two-in-one solution, we love a reamer with a built-in seed strainer.\n<\/p>\n But otherwise, those extra dishes are why the reamer is the runner-up.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n How We Tested the Best Citrus Juicing Methods <\/span> <\/h2>\n
1st Place Winner: Manual Juice Press <\/span> <\/h2>\n
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 2nd Place Runner-up: Citrus Reamer <\/span> <\/h2>\n