Choose fresh fruit that is firm, not soft – it will yield more juice.
Always wash citrus fruit before juicing to remove pesticides and residues from handling.
Room temperature fruit will yield more juice than refrigerated fruit.
Roll fruits on the counter top with the palm of your hand a few times to increase juice yield.
Remove all seeds, but leave in pulp when using juice in baking – it will add flavor. If a recipe calls for citrus “zest”, remove zest prior to juicing.
Freeze leftover juice in measured “juice cubes”, using ice cube trays. Thaw to use.
Choose oranges, lemons and limes with smooth, brightly colored skin. The best are firm, plump and heavy for their size.
Small brown areas on the skin (“scald”spots) will not affect flavor or juiciness.
Avoid lemons/limes with hard or shriveled skin.
Lemon and lime juice can be used inter-changeably in most recipes (margaritas are an exception).
Grapefruits should have thin, finely textured, brightly colored skin and firm yet springy to palm texture. The thinner the skin, the more juice.
Hollow skins that remain after juicing citrus fruit are nice containers for desserts such as sorbets.
“Sweet” oranges make the best juice, but you can make orange juice from any type of orange. “Sweet” oranges include both “juice” oranges and navel oranges. Navel oranges are identifiable by their prominent “navel” – their thick skins are much easier to peel, and are generally seed-less. “Juice” oranges have thinner skins, and often are chock full of seeds. Juice from pink grapefruit contains more vitamin A than from white grapefruit.