Keep your Mates Happy Black & Decker CJ525 CitrusMate Plus Citrus Juicer

Happiness is...drinking a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.

I host dinners once in a while where I like to test out some of my experimental dishes. My friends welcome this and are good sports even if things don't completely turn out. True to Messy Gourmet form, they somehow always turn out.

Just as a good speech needs a good opening, a good starter can set the right tone for a meal. To start the meal off with a surprise zing, I was expecting to make a guacamole dip with wasabi. Unfortunately, the avocado I bought was hard as a rock. What to do?? I had 10 juice oranges, a juicer and, most importantly, an idea.

I washed the oranges, cut them in half and juiced them. With this juicer you can adjust how much pulp you let through the filter. I normally set it to the middle which lets some pulp through. The juicer also automatically reverses direction to get the maximal amount of juice. The remaining pulp in the filter is very easy to clean up. This is a no-mess citrus juicer. It took me all of five minutes to make 32 ounces of tremendous freshly squeezed juice.

When I brought the juice to the table all eyes widened. It was a challenge to fairly distribute the juice. No doubt about it, the juice was the highlight of the meal!

Because a good ending is just as important as a good start, I also decided to use the empty orange halves as bowls for the dessert of kiwi and sorbet.

The juicer can easily be used for any citrus fruit large or small (lemons,limes, oranges, grapefruits). Not only does it make great juice, but your hands smell wonderful!