I didn’t think you could, or needed, to reinvent the wheel with a citrus juicer. Is groundbreaking design innovation really necessary for such a simple tool? Not to mention, could a citrus juicer be inspiring enough to wax poetic on the topic for nearly 1,000 words? After getting Dreamfarm’s flat handheld citrus juicer, creatively named the Flucier, I can definitively tell you that the answer is: absolutely. Here’s why.
For years, I have run the gamut of juicing apparatuses, from the classic yellow enameled citrus reamer, to the $5, also enameled, citrus press from the supermarket with giant holes and squeaky hinges one unusually large lemon away from coming undone forever. And they both served me well...until they didn’t.
My introduction to citrus juicing that didn’t involve simply cutting a lemon in half and squeezing it with all my might was when my cooking journey was in its infancy, watching an episode of The Barefoot Contessa. Any Ina Garten fan knows that she’s got an arsenal of cooking tools at her disposal, and in those days of slowly building my kitchen, whatever I saw her using on the screen I needed for myself.
Perhaps she was whipping up a quick cocktail or summery salad for her friends in that sprawling Hamptons garden—the details escape me now, but what I do recall was the handheld, carved wooden tool. The reamer emerged from the drawer, and so quickly and efficiently did she seem to juice those lemons, I was instantly enamored. One quick Google search and trip to my local housewares store later, I was in possession of a sturdy and petite citrus reamer that juiced my lemons, limes and grapefruits just as well as Ina’s.
The only problem? The seeds, which always seem to multiply no matter how many you think you’ve found. With nothing to catch them, I was often spending an extra five minutes desperately fishing them out of my bowls and pitchers while contemplating whether I actually needed citrus juice after all (I always did). How did Ina not share this plight?
After years with the handheld reamer, the supermarket press I impulse-purchased one night was a revelation: it caught (most) of the seeds! And what an arm workout I’d been putting into the reamer—by comparison, the press was effortless to use.
But disillusionment set in once again when I took a crunchy bite of a sliver-sized seed in my risotto—the handheld juicer never seems to catch them all. All it takes is one flood of intense bitterness to resign you again to spending those extra minutes fishing out seeds.
Fed up with just so-so juice yields, I decided to give the Fluicer a shot. My life was changed on one unbearably hot July day, when I decided to whip up a batch of lemonade large and sweet enough to make my Southern ancestors proud. I had to take it one—five—steps further though by making my own zest-infused simple syrup and squeezing every last bit of juice out of six lemons. A citrus-forward, Olympic-level culinary feat of my own making. While it wasn’t the first time I’d made this lemonade, it was the first time that I gotten it done in under an hour (I know, I know, but it’s really amazing lemonade, I promise).
Gone was the sticky mess of juice and seeds. No more awkwardly aiming the juicer above the pitcher, hoping it would catch the spray. No more pausing to recover my wrists before stirring.
This is because the Fluicer is ingeniously designed like hedge clippers—both arms share the effort of squeezing, and a hinge mechanism makes squashing a lemon magnificently easy and effective. Its strainer catches all the seeds and pips. The juice pours straight down in a single stream. And despite the fact that it’s technically three times larger than a reamer, with a much larger wingspan than the citrus press, it folds flat to fit in even the slimmest silverware drawer.
I tell you, I haven’t been so excited for a new kitchen tool since the day I brought home a Garject. And just like the Garject, the Fluicer is a single-use tool that now gets some of the most use in my kitchen. Not only does it completely obliterate lemons, it can also be used to squeeze the juice out of limes, small oranges and yes, even cut grapefruit.
It’s fun to use, I’m getting more Vitamin C than I have in a long time, and its bright yellow color instantly puts me in a cheerier mood. It’s a win-win-win. Did I mention it’s also dishwasher safe? The gifts keep on giving.
If you’ve made it this far and are still on the fence about the Fluicer, I have a challenge for you. I challenge you to get a Fluicer for yourself. Then, I want you to do your own test. Time how long it takes for you to juice your lemons using your reamer or your supermarket juicer, from cutting to juicing to inevitably seed-fishing. Then, time yourself using your Fluicer. From the first squeeze you’ll understand. I’m willing to bet my Garject on it.
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest.
And if you're looking for more Milk Street, check out our livestream cooking classes with our favorite chefs, home cooks and friends for global recipes, cooking methods and more.
