Orange juice is sold in supermarkets, shops, and convenience stores, but will it taste as good as when we use a juicer to make it? When we make orange juice, we will know for a fact that there are no additives and preservatives in it.
Orange juice is rich in Vitamin C, and we want to ensure that we are getting every delicious drop of it by making our orange juice.
So, how will we make orange juice? Will we choose the old fashioned way, buy it, or use a juicer to make it?
To answer that lingering question that we all want to ask. Yes! Orange juice can be made using a juicer, and we will explore the options among the juicers that will be discussed.
Using a juicer is the best option, and we will see why.
Using the Right Oranges to Make Juice Will Work Magic
Before making orange juice, we must know that we can’t use an orange juicer to make juice without oranges and that not all oranges are created equal.
Perhaps we ask why it’s crucial to choose oranges, so continue reading to get the answer.
Oranges are readily available in different sizes, colors, textures, and types; some are even sweet while the others are sour, and getting the best flavor from juiced oranges comes with the right product selection. Let’s dive into the most common types of sweet oranges used to make orange juice.
Types of Oranges Used to Make Orange Juice
These oranges are listed in no particular order of rank or preference.
Cara Cara Navel Orange
It is seedless, loaded with sweet juice, and is the most common sweet oranges sold at the grocer.
Blood Orange
It has a unique flavor that tastes like orange mixed with raspberry, has a bright red flesh, and very juicy and great for juicing.
Tangerine
It is very high in Vitamin C, has soft skin, and is sweeter than other oranges.
Acid-less Orange
It has little acid that makes them unfit for juicing but is better suited to eat than for making juice.
Mandarin
It is less acid, is almost seedless, and is sweeter tasting than the other oranges.
Clementine
It is a hybrid orange with a deep orange color, juicy, sweet, and low acid content.
Common Orange Valencia
It is full of juice but has a lot of seeds in it.
With all of what was said, we now know that not any sweet orange is used with any particular type of juicer to make orange juice.
Selecting the Right Juicer to Make Orange Juice
Juicing oranges should be treated as a fun project, so we have to plan how we’ll go about juicing our oranges.
There are various juicers on the market, but we need to shop around for a good juicer, and I suggest using a Breville Juicer; and selecting the best juicer that will fit our budget. A juicer should appeal to us and make us excited to use it every day, not just tuck it away in a corner to gather rust and dust.
Rules to Observe When Making Orange Juice Using a Juicer
There are rules to observe when using any juicer to make our orange juice, and they must be followed for our health and safety.
These rules are:
- Washing the oranges properly before using them
- Ensuring that the juicer is clean by washing it and the moving parts
- Washing our hands properly
- Sanitizing the area we use when juicing
- Washing our utensils and our cutting board
Types of Juicer and How to Use Them to Juice Our Oranges
Orange juice and the volume of juice we will get depend on the juicer we use and talk as I may; the best juicer is the one that matches your needs.
The three most common juicers for oranges are:
Electric Orange Juicer
Things and times have changed, and how we make orange juice has evolved. With people’s busy lifestyles and the love for freshly made orange juice, we opt to make our lives easier by using the electric juicer.
We will find that the Breville Big Squeeze Juicer does an excellent job of making orange juice.
The process involves:
- Washing and peeling the oranges
- With this juicer, it is best to remove the peel and the white membrane
- We may also want to choose the orange with fewer seeds
- We can opt to cut the orange or place it whole in the chute
- Giving the machine time to remove all or most of the juice from the oranges
- Having the orange juice the way we like it
Advantage:
- It makes several cups of orange juice
- It requires little effort on our part
- Breville squeezes the maximum amount of juice from the oranges
Disadvantage:
- The juicer requires a little cleaning time, but having a clean juicer is the ideal thing to do
Hand Juicers
This one may look simple, but it still gets the job done, so let’s not worry our pretty little heads about this one. Breville Citrus Press is easy to use.
We use it to make orange juice by:
- Remembering clean hands and clean oranges
- With this juicer, we can either peel the orange or leave the skin on it
- Cutting the orange in two halves
- Placing one half over the dome-shaped top
- Pressing down and applying enough pressure to squeeze out the juice
- Depending on the texture of orange juice that we want, we can strain what was caught in the cup to remove excess pulp
Advantage:
- It works well if we want to make a cup or a few
- The press is small enough to store anywhere
- We don’t have to peel the oranges
Disadvantage:
- The orange juice may be too pulpy
- It will not yield a lot of juice in a short space of time
- The press will cause some pressure on our arm
With The Hand
Yes! You are seeing and reading the right thing.
Before technology came about, people used their hands for juicing, and in some parts of the world, they still do it.
So how is it done? We do this by:
- Ensuring our hands are clean
- Washing the oranges
- Depending on the type of orange, we may need to peel it
- Removing the white membrane that will make the juice bitter
- Placing our hand over a clean bowl that is covered with a strainer
- Applying some pressure and squeezing the juice from the orange to make sure we get out most of the juice and less pulp
Advantage:
- It works well if we want to make a fresh cup of orange juice
- The process can be fun for people who like the natural way of doing things
Disadvantage:
- It can be time-consuming
- This method does not work well if we are juicing a lot of oranges
Are We Done Yet?
I think not. No, we aren’t finished just yet, because after we are finished pouring love into making the orange juice, we must make sure that our family and friends enjoy it to the very last drop.
To do this, we must store the orange juice after using the juicer to make it.
Storing Our Juiced Orange
- We will wash our glass or plastic container thoroughly
- Then gently pour the orange juice into the container
- Tighten the cover of the bottle to make it air-tight
- Shake up the orange juice in the container
- Then we put the juice in the refrigerator closer to the cooler
- We can also store the orange juice in the freezer
How to Treat Frozen Orange Juice
- Remove the frozen orange juice from the freezer
- Then place it in a sink or the bottom of the refrigerator to thaw
- When in a liquid state, shake the orange juice well
- Pour the orange juice into a glass
- Enjoy!
Did You Know We Can Improve the Taste of Our Orange Juice?
We most certainly can by:
- Adding other fruits to the orange juice to improve the taste
- Mixing different types of oranges can also improve the taste
- Adding orange juice to our favorite punches
- Using the right type of orange
- Using the juice as a fine addition to smoothies
- Adding ginger to our juice to jazz up the flavor
- Infusing mints are also an excellent addition to flavor orange juice
- Not adding the peel of the orange to the juicer
- Removing the seeds if we want to
- Always shake up the orange juice since the pulp may settle at the bottom
To make a fresh cold glass of orange juice, we can freeze the oranges before adding it to our juicer because adding ice to the juicer will only dilute the nutrition value of the juice.
Does Using a Juicer to Make Orange Juice Give It a Bitter Taste?
The bitter taste in orange juice is from the antioxidant compound Limonin, and it gives off a bitter taste when it interacts with the air. Limonin is found in most citrus fruits skin, and our orange is no exception.
We can get rid of the bitterness from orange juice by:
- Removing the seeds
- Peeling the oranges
- Removing the white membrane that tends to taste bitter
- Using less navel orange to make orange juice
Orange Juice Cool Fruit for Kids
Our children need the nutritional value of Vitamin C, and what better way is there to have them enjoy orange juice than to be creative with it?
We just used our juicer to make orange juice, but our children may not like it that way.
Here are very creative ways to get children to enjoy the juice:
- Pouring the juice into ice trays and freeze them
- Making popsicle using the freshly made orange juice
- Soaking other fruits in orange juice and put them on ice cream
- Using the juice in our cake mixes instead of water
- Adding the orange juice to scrambled eggs
- Glazing bacon with orange juice
After all, who says orange juice is just for having in the morning? We can have it any time of the day or night.
Recipe: Orange Mango Carrot Blend
Let’s enjoy our orange juice and using the juicer by whipping up this punch.
Steps:
- We will wash six oranges, two large carrots, one large mango, and 1 ounce of ginger
- Peel the oranges, remove the seeds, and the white membrane
- Cut the oranges into small portions
- Scrape the carrots and cut them into small sizes
- Peel the mango and cut it into small sizes
- Wash the ounce of ginger and cut it into small pieces
- Pour all the ingredients into the juicer and allow it to process the juice
- Strain the juice to the consistency that we want
- Stir the juices well
- Pour the juice over cracked ice and enjoy
- We then store the leftover in the refrigerator in a tightly closed container
Using a Juicer as a Choice for Making Our Orange Juice
A juicer is an effective and efficient way to make our freshly made glass or jug of orange juice, and it not only saves us money on our health by buying store-bought orange juice that has additives and preservatives, but it also saves us a lot of time.
The juicer also saves us that arm workout, which can be stressful to the shoulder, elbow, and wrist.
Closing Thoughts
Orange is a citrus fruit packed with Vitamin C and other nutrients and is the most favored citrus food. If we did not know that we can use a juicer to juice our oranges, we now know that it is possible.
Educating ourselves about the better oranges to use is very important since this will give us a better-tasting orange juice. Don’t allow your labor of love, and maybe even sweat for the newbies, to go down the drain. We’ve put in too much work not to take care of our freshly made orange juice. Please remember that storing our orange juice is just as important as how we store the juicer.
Let’s choose the tastiest oranges, carefully select the best juicer, and make all the orange juice we want in whatever way we like.
Juice your orange juice now using a juicer!