The Only Citrus Press You Will Ever Need!
The media could not be loaded. It's time to start buying limes by the bushel!!!!! This machine has just officially saved me a lot of mess and heartache! It arrived yesterday and one thing I didn't expect was the size of it. I pulled it out of the box and didn't realize how large it was! It could easily handle grapefruit or any other large citrus. I took a few pictures of it side-by-side with my 5 qt. Kitchenaid Mixer to give a scale comparison. Assembly was almost self-explanatory, but the instructions were simple to follow. The whole machine including the “body” is only 5 total parts. The “Juice Collector”, “Juicing Cone” and “Pulp Filter” are all dishwasher safe. The “Fruit Dome” is inserted into the top of the machine by a magnet. It is hollow plastic and I wouldn’t advise putting it in the dishwasher. The one thing that I do like about Breville is that there is usually only one way to assemble its products. Components will physically not fit properly if it is not the correct way to assemble them together. I gave the machine a quick wipe with a rag and washed the 4 components. I was so giddy with excitement that I didn’t want to wait to try this baby out! I dug around the fridge to find anything that I could stab into this contraption. Luckily, there was a rogue lemon floating around the crisper drawer that I decided to sacrifice in the name of experimentation. I pulled a length of cord from its storage area under the body of the machine and plugged it in. There is an on/off switch on the back so that the handle can be pressed with positioning and set up. I sliced the lemon in half, set it on the juicing cone and pressed the lever down. I was really expecting it to be a loud noisy machine like the juicer my grandma had in my youth. I was pleasantly shocked at how quiet it was! A person could make fresh juice in the morning while everyone is still asleep! When nothing remained but the lemon rind, I flipped the spout up and grabbed all of the pieces with one hand to take to the sink. Nothing leaked and there wasn't projectile juice splattered all over the place like when I use my hand press. I decided I couldn’t wait to put this puppy to the test. I ran to Publix and bought the limes that I needed to make recipes for Cinco De Mayo. I usually need 7 or 8 limes to have enough juice for one recipe so I bought 18 of them. I was shocked by how much juice was extracted! I know it was 18 of them, but 2 3/4 cups of juice was an impressive amount compared to what I usually get with my hand press! I have never had "leftover" lime juice in the past when I used a handheld press. I am going to have to change my menu for the week to use up the rest! I am still surprised how quiet it is. I took a video for my sister. My nephew is special needs and can't handle the loud noises of appliances (vacuum, Kitchenaid mixer and etc.). I think this will be quiet enough that it won't affect him. In the video, I have my Bluetooth speaker sitting on the other side of the kitchen. You can still hear the BBC on in the background while the press is running. I now have hopes of being able to juice fruit for brunch or at parties and not interrupt the conversation! I was happy to see that a large array of containers could be placed under the machine and fit comfortably. I used a tall plastic 20 oz plastic cup for the lemon and a 4 cup silicone measuring cup for the limes. Both are quite tall and fit just fine. The other thing that impressed me was how all of the pulp was extracted. It was effortless and didn't make a mess at all. There wasn’t any pulp left in the fruit! The components caught all of the pulp and I was able to add it to my juice in the measuring cup. No more manual extraction and digging my fingers into the lime halves to get the most juice out of them! The only downside that I can see so far is that I wish the arm/handle of the machine had a locking switch to make storage a little easier. I am afraid that I will accidentally get the arm stuck on the underside of my cabinets and not realize it until I do some serious damage. When I first saw this press at Williams-Sonoma,, I couldn't believe that Breville was charging so much money for it. I remember thinking, "Why is that thing so expensive!? They are insane!" I am now eating my words with a side of Spanish Rice! This thing is worth every penny! I have acquired 3 Breville products (Milk Frother, Smart Toaster Oven and Citrus Press) over the past 6 months. They have performed perfectly. My only regret was that I waited so long try them! One Month Update: I have used this press 5-6 times since I got it. I was afraid that I wouldn't want to use it for "just a lemon or lime". But, the cleanup is so simple and extracting juice is so quick that I find myself using it more than I would a handheld press! Still very much in love with this thing! Read more
