When Life Hands You Lemons …. Break Out the OXO Plastic Lemon Reamer!
Written: Mar 06 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to use, great design, comfortable, inexpensive.
Cons: Not many uses outside of reaming citrus.
The Bottom Line: Ever wonder what to get for someone that seems to have every kitchen toy and tool? Hand them this and let them try to figure out what it is :]
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| Freak369's Full Review: OXO GOOD GRIPS Plastic Lemon Reamer 34281 |
I am an ice tea junkie. There, I said it. No matter if it is the dead of winter or the scorching hot days of summer, I will pick ice tea over any other beverage. With that being said, I also like a nice wedge of lemon in my ice tea. More often than not, fresh lemons are on the expensive side at the grocery store – usually .59 to .79 cents a piece. Thanks to a friend who has a lemon tree in his backyard, I now have a summer hook up for the little yellow tarts. But there are some times when the tree isn’t producing a lot of lemons or passersby hop the fence and help themselves to a few handfuls. When this happens I have to go to a back up plan – and that involves the use of my ultra handy OXO Good Grips Plastic Lemon Reamer. Instead of slicing up the overpriced grocery store lemons I use my lemon reamer to remove as much of the juice and pulp as possible, mix it with about twenty ounces water and pour it into a small ice cube tray. This way when I need a spot of lemon for my ice tea I can pop out a few cubes and eliminate the work of cutting a lemon and dealing with seeds. Moreover, this is great for making a small glass of orange juice or working with any citrus type fruit such as grapefruit or tangerines.
What Is It?
The OXO Good Grips Plastic Lemon Reamer is a small kitchen tool that is used to extract both the juice and pulp from citrus fruits. Measuring a hearty six inches in length, this inexpensive tool is not exactly a necessary gadget but it sure does make getting the most out of citrus fruit a painless endeavor. Using it is pretty simple, slice any piece of citrus fruit in half and spear the center of the fruit with the end of the reamer. Give it a few good twists and you are on your way. I recommend having a good grip on the piece of fruit before you start and occasionally turning the fruit so you can get the most out of it.
This is a solid, one piece kitchen tool that features a “soft grip” so it is easy on your handy but allows you to have a firm grip on it while you are using it. This is a safe and smaller alternative to the old style glass orange juicers that seemed to make a mess of most fruits. It takes up less space, won’t break if dropped and is 100% safe for kids to use when they are helping out in the kitchen. This can be used by both left and right handed individuals so there is no need to seek out a “hand specific” model. When the boys want fresh lemonade I no longer grumble and mumble about having to cut up twenty lemons – I slice them in half and let them have all the “fun” of reaming the little rays of sunshine. For some reason they seem to think that this tool is the greatest thing since sliced bread and bottled water – so far be it from me to burst their bubble.
Who Needs This?
Anyone that loves the taste of freshly squeezed juice, has a citrus tree or does any type of baking or cooking that requires the use of fresh juice would benefit from this product. Since there really aren’t a lot of uses for this outside the obvious ones I already mentioned – if you aren’t a juice person you can safely skip this item. Since this only costs a few dollars, it might be a nice thing to toss into a basket for someone who is moving into a new home or someone who is starting over from a divorce.
Cost & Clean Up
This costs less than five dollars and can be purchased at most places that carry the OXO brand. I can’t remember exactly where I purchased this but I can say this, it’s been with me for a few years and looks almost as good as new. I rarely put my kitchen tools into the dishwasher so this has never seen the inside of “the white beast” – instead I rinse it under hot water to remove pulp then take a soft sided sponge and work on the molded coring sections. I recommend that you stay away from the harsh or hard scrubbers that could scrape your reamer and leave it looking like it just did battle. I’ve never had a problem with it retaining a smell or scent from any of the fruits I have used it on and I think this is partly due to the fact that I rinse it thoroughly as soon as I am done using it.
There is a handy dandy hanging hole at the end of the reamer. If you have a hanging overhead rack for pots and pans [that I was supposed to have over a year ago], this can be stored there until needed. This also means that it can be connected to other kitchen tools that don’t see the light of day too often but are still great to have handy. Just like my heart shaped cookie cutters, I have this attached to a few other kitchen goodies with a ball chain, conveniently hung on the wall. Sure I get some odd looks from those that visit when they see this on the wall and after joking referring to it as “The Prodder” I no longer have to ask twice for my Tupperware containers to be returned to me.
The Bottom Line
If the plastic version doesn’t look snappy enough for you, there is a half plastic / half metal reamer on the market from OXO. I think this costs a little more and I’m not sure what the advantages are over the all plastic one so if you know of any or own one, please feel free to leave a message in the comment section. This reamer has been a great addition to my growing collection of odd and strange kitchen gadgets and has almost completely eliminated “sour eye” – the term I coined for them a lemon manages to catch you right in the eye. Not a nice thing to have happen under any circumstance – but a bit more painful when you have contact lenses in.
As always, thanks for the visit!
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2003 Freak369
Need more “somewhat useless but still cool” kitchen gadgets?
Wilton Spatch-It
OXO 9 Inch Black-Handled Meat Tenderizer
No-Spill Ice Trays
Recommended:
Yes
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