I like fresh-squeezed fruit juice more than anyone I know — or at least, that was true before I met my wife, whose obsession with grapefruit juice amazes even me.

I am the one on squeezing duty, though. In our kitchen, we’ve got quite a few juice-making tools now, but the one I end up reaching for and actually using more than any of the others (several times a week) is one that she introduced me to about two years ago, and which I approached skeptically, because I thought it looked pretty chintzy, and *plastic* — definitely not the industrial aesthetic of my heavy crank machine.

This is the OXO Good Grips Double Sided Citrus juicer– which is also the smallest and least expensive juicer in our stable. It’s a well-executed realization of the classic inverted-cone, hand-operated style of juicer, and to my eye (after getting over that first, skeptical glance) very attractive besides. Whereas the hand juicers I grew up with more-or-less fitted over a user-supplied cup, the Oxo version is cleverly integrated with a holding tank that holds slightly more than the 8-ounce glasses I usually use: this means that it fits comfortably the juice from a typical grapefruit, though there are a few monsters that actually require one to dump that reservoir partway through.

The tank and the actual reamer (that inverted cone, in this case actually a framework of plastic segments *suggesting* a cone, rather than solid) are cleverly mated by means of a plastic-and-metal collar that not only holds the cone in place, but can be flipped and repositioned to reveal a smaller cone. (The smaller cone on the other side is a better size for limes, lemons, or small oranges, and it works just as well.)

When would I forgo this juicer in favor of the larger lever-based juicer that is now stashed on the cabinet above? I now reach for that one only when juicing for a crowd or preparing a week’s worth in advance of a trip; with a quantity of more than 4 or 5 fruits, the efficiency of cranking can better justify the slightly greater annoyance of cleaning its parts, and the more athletic approach it requires. (But arms can put up with more juicing than wrists can.) The OXO one, by contrast, is a doddle to clean (blast with water and knock off pesky bits with fingers is my usual protocol), weighs just a few ounces, and is small enough to bring on a road trip, or even just possibly small enough to win room in a carry-on bag. (The parts are innocuous enough that I think they’d slip right through the prop-masters of our still-running National Security Theater, and I suppose I could stuff a couple of pairs of socks inside to minimize wasted space.)

There are a few drawbacks, or at least limitations. To start with, it’s not truly unbreakable, but the plastic it’s made of seems to be pretty tough stuff, and it would take a nasty impact to bust it. I’ve worried about, but not yet (knock on wood) actually bent the small metal tab that keeps the juicing cone in place while in use. The plastic, after a few years of frequent use, is very slightly discolored. Cleaning, while easy, would be even easier if the reamer was slightly more accommodating to fingers; when I’ve forgotten to rinse it immediately, I find it takes a bit of soaking and poking to loosen the dried pulp. Finally, one that doesn’t bother me at all: the straining holes are fairly coarse, which means the juice in the reservoir is rather pulpy. (Which means I use a small strainer when making juice for my wife, who prefers no pulp at all.)

I consider this the Aeropress of juicers, and mean that as a high compliment.

-- Timothy Lord 11/2/16