Why You Need to be Squeezing your own Citrus Juices

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Bottled lemon and lime juice has become a bit of a taboo in the world of cocktail bars. Most bartenders swear juicing in house creates a better flavour and they are absolutely right! By using freshly squeezed citrus juice you can unlock a world of brighter flavours and bring your cocktail game to the next level. In this post I’ll go through all benefits freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice has. As well as how to correctly store it.

The Benefits of Freshly Squeezed Citrus

Let’s jump straight into it and have a look at why freshly squeezed citrus juice triumphs over bottled.

1. Flavour: Fresh lemon and lime juice has a much more vibrant and zestier flavour to it than bottled. With lemon juice especially you’ll get more sweetness coming through, unlike the insanely sour flavour of bottled juices. This more natural acidity really helps to bring cocktails to life and brightens the overall palate.
2. Smell: Freshly squeezed citrus juice also has a much nicer aroma. This helps to add to the sensory experience of a drink. I also find it overpowers the ‘wet dog’ smell egg whites can give sours, making for a more pleasant drinking experience.
3. Ensuring freshness: Squeezing your own citrus means you control how much you have. If you are squeezing at home, you may only need a couple of lemons worth, but in a busy bar you may need 3-4 liters a day. Being able to control the amount you make will lead to less waste and save you money. Using a electric juicer like this one cuts the time of juicing down significantly.
4. No additives or preservatives: The one bonus of bottled juice is that it has a longer shelf life, but this is down additives or preservatives added directly to the juice. Juicing your own juice is a more healthy and natural option.

Storing Citrus Juice

Freshley squeezed lemon and lime juice is easy to store at home or behind the bar. Once you have your juice squeezed grab a container for it. An old liqueur bottle is always a good option (make sure it is clean) or go for something smaller if you’re only making a little bit.

1. Sterilise the bottle: To ensure your juice keeps and is not contaminated you first need to sterilise your bottle. Place the bottle into a sink and boil a kettle of water. Once the kettle has boiled give a couple of seconds and then pour the hot water into the bottle. Give it a few seconds and then carefully pour the hot water away. Make sure to hold the bottle with a tea towel or something to protect your hands because it will be HOT!!
2. Cool the bottle: Once all the hot water has been emptied give the bottle a few minutes to cool down. The hot water should kill any bacteria living in the bottle.
3. Transfer the juice: Once the bottle has cooled use a funnel to transfer the juice into the bottle.
4. Label your juice: Clearly label what your juice is and when it was made. Freshly squeezed lemon juice has a shelf life of about 3 days (72 hours), while freshly squeezed lime juice will lose it flavour fast. I recommend keeping for no longer than a day (24 hours).
5. Storage: Make sure you keep any freshly squeezed juice in a fridge.

Other Juices

If you have the time or use a lot of another kind of juice like orange or grapefruit, you can juice these too. The benefits will be the same with a brighter and sweeter flavour and aroma. Use the same method to store all your juices and soon enough you’ll have a whole fridge full of freshly squeezed citrus ready and waiting to be mixed into delicious cocktails.

Now that you have your citrus ready why not make some sugar syrup to really get things moving!

Thanks for reading this post. I would love to know in the comments below your experience with squeezing your own citrus for cocktail. Also let me know if there are any other juices you regularly squeeze yourself.