The Fastest Way to Juice Citrus When You Don’t Have a Juicer
Cooking in someone else’s home — whether it’s at your in-laws or in a summer rental — is always an adventure. It can be a lot of fun if the kitchen is stocked with everything you need and appliances you can play around with. On the flip side, you always run the risk of missing something crucial. Among those issues is juicing citrus without a juicer. How else are you expected to make the perfect margarita? Or add some zing to all your grilled vegetables? Sure, you could just do it by hand, but that might take longer and be frustrating if you need a lot of juice.
Thankfully a Philadelphia pastry chef on TikTok recently shared a trick that’s way easier than the standard “stick a fork in it” advice — and it really reams the heck out of the fruit.
@pastrycon This is the way #learnontiktok #cooking #knifeskills #kitchen
♬ Venom – Little Simz
“No juicer?” he asks over the demonstration, then answers his own question with the following caption: “Use your knife.” But not the blade. Instead, he sticks the butt of a knife — the end of the handle — directly into the fruit (a lime sliced in half, in this case) and wiggles it around until it draws out all of the juice. The good news about this is it’s finally a use for vacation-rental knives where it doesn’t matter that they are duller than Great Aunt Mildred’s stories (just make sure to wash them thoroughly before doing this, of course).
Safety note: It’s still a knife, even if you aren’t using the sharp end. As the video advises, make sure to point the knife away from you when you do this and be cautious.
“You just made my life easier,” one commenter said on TikTok. “I’ve been doing it wrong all these years,” said someone else. Another commenter asked why this was better than using a fork, and the creator of the video explained that “The knife is already in my hand,” which makes perfect sense when you’re in a rush and you don’t want to get another dish dirty.