Making Fresh Orange Juice

My backyard Valencia orange tree looks like one of those overdone Christmas trees, when people just can't stop adding more and more ornaments and trinkets and lights and tinsel and etc that you can't even see the tree coz there's so much stuff on it. You know what I mean?  Lots of oranges.  The orange this year have thick skins (making them easier to peel) and much less seeds than in the past and as compared to the normal thin skin Valencia. This is the first crop since I had the tree cut back hard two years ago so I wonder if the pruning caused the change in the nature of the fruit.  Seems unlikely but I can't think of any other possible reason.  Anyway, this year there's so much juice in these sugary and tart treats that on average just three or four oranges make a 12 oz glass of juice. I know it doesn't sound possible but yes some of these oranges have four oz of juice in them! That’s very little work for a big glass of fresh OJ.

OK so here's the squeeze.  After much trial and error over the last couple of years trying to find the easiest, fastest, most efficient, cleanest method of juicing I think I have discovered it and would like to share with you. It's the humble wooden citrus reamer.

You can buy a fancy electric citrus juicer for over $200 easily, or a cheap one for about $25. You can also buy a mechanical handheld or tabletop citrus press for about the same price.  They are all OK but often a pain to clean. Even the really expensive ones.  And those are so big that it's a problem finding counter and storage space for them. Unless you have a huge kitchen, which I don't.

After all that I found what works the best is the wooden handheld twist reamer. Williams Sonoma sells them for $8.50 and I’m sure they are cheaper at Bed Bath and Beyond (where I got mine).

Besides the reamer here’s what you need:

Large sharp knife
Cutting board
One bowl to catch juice
One bowl to place peel after juicing (not in photo)
Mesh sieve (I prefer stainless steel)
Apron
Rubber dishwashing gloves (optional)

A large flat workspace which is easy to wipe clean when you are finished.

It’s pretty straight forward. You need the apron because 100 percent of the juice is not going to end up in the bowl - a little is going to fly over in your direction. If you have the apron on you don’t care but if not and your clothes get some juice on them that's a bummer.

I like having the second bowl to drop the rinds into just because it is easier than reaching over to the garbage bin or compost pail six or eight times. When you are finished you can just dump them all in the trash in one fell swoop.

I guess everything else is pretty obvious. The sieve sits on the bowl collecting the juice and strains out the seeds. If you are juicing limes or other small, hard citrus, thick rubber gloves make it much easier on your hands when you are pressing with the reamer. I don’t use them for the oranges right now because these oranges are quite soft. And before you toss the peel give it one last squeeze over the sieve - you'll get some more juice.

That’s about it except to say that any friends who are in LA and want some oranges you are welcomed to come over and pick as many as you like (same goes for lemons – no limes yet).

And although it doesn’t seem like people order them any more, you must remember The Screwdriver, the classic alcoholic drink from the 1980's? Just imagine one made with Stoly and OJ fresh squeezed off the tree. Yummm.