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Sick of Tossing Half-Used Lemons and Limes? Try This Chef’s Brilliant Trick To Juice Citrus Without Cutting Into It

Emily Laurence

April 1, 2022

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Photo: Stocksy/Martí Sans

Every influencer and their mom seems to start the day by drinking lemon water, but if that's all you're using your citrus for, you're seriously missing out. Incorporating lemon or lime juice into your meals can elevate an entire dish, whether it's sweet or savory. If you're warming up leftovers, a bit of lemon juice can make your days-old meal taste fresh.

When a recipe calls for lemon or lime juice, most people grab a knife and cut into their citrus. Sure, you could do that. But then you're going to have pulp and seeds to deal with, too. And chances are your hands will end up covered in juice. When it comes to how to juice citrus, there's an easier way and it's taking over TikTok (of course, right)?

Cookbook author Farrah Jalanbo posted a video showing how to juice citrus without using a knife or any other kitchen tool at all. First, she rolls her lemon on a cutting board to soften it a bit. Then, she uses a skewer to poke a hole through the lemon. After removing the skewer, she squeezes the lemon juice right onto her food. No seeds. No pulp. No mess.

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This cooking hack is especially helpful when you only need a little citrus juice. Maybe, for example, you want to add just a little to your tea or to a singular plate of food and not an entire dish. You can even use a little lemon juice to prevent your avocados from going bad as quickly. Jalanbo's way of juicing means you won't end up with half a lemon leftover. Citrus starts to dry out as soon as you cut it open, so this hole-poking method will keep your fruit from drying out as quickly so you can use the rest of your citrus juice later. Just be store to store the rest of your citrus in an airtight container in the fridge to prolong its shelf life as long as possible.

A little citrus juice can go a long way in terms of adding flavor to a dish, and with this clutch cooking hack you can elevate your dish without wasting half your fruit. Now you know exactly what to do when life gives you lemons (or limes, or grapefruits...).

Now that you've got your citrus-saving hack nailed, try baking this low-sugar lemon meringue pie with all those lemons:

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