JuiceLab

Bonnie: When I received my bright lemon-yellow sample of JuiceLab, I looked at it, thought it interesting, but wondered if I’d find it useful, as I have a number of juicers in my home.

Specifically:

• One heavy, metal, manual one — a Juice-O-Mat that belonged to my grandmother — with a few removable parts; a reamer over a container that catches the juice. I love that one, as it’s chock full of memories of my grandmother in the kitchen.
• An electric one that I pull out (or lend) for parties when I may be squeezing lots of citrus juice for cocktails.
• The manual inverted press with two handles that I picked up in Mexico. And the antique glass one, where I just turn the half orange or lemon on the reamer and it catches the juice in the base for easy pouring.

But something about this plastic gadget made me leave it on the counter ready to use. And I reached for the JuiceLab one day to squeeze a lemon for my salad dressing.

BTW, for my “house” salad dressing, I whisk together lemon juice, mustard and a spoonful of fresh chèvre, season it with salt and pepper, add a splash of some kind of vinegar (which type depends on my mood), then slowly add extra virgin olive oil.

I only needed a tablespoon of lemon juice for the salad dressing and was about to look for a tiny storage container when I saw the small yellow cap that fit tightly on the flask-shaped clear container. I realized that the JuiceLab also was a storage container holding up to five ounces of freshly squeezed juice. That’s when I fell in love with it! That, and knowing it is dishwasher safe.

Some of my citrus hints:

• To get the most juice from a citrus fruit before squeezing, roll the fruit on the counter to break the membranes, and microwave it for 20 seconds. You’ll get up to ¼-cup juice from a juicy lemon.
• When purchasing citrus fruit, select fruit that is heavy for it’s size.

Bryan: When you’re known by a famous name, why try to go by another? Thus the dilemma of NewMetro Design, a company that has been making creative kitchen gadgets since 2004 but is known best by the name of its biggest-selling product, the BeaterBlade. Just try to find NewMetro Design online; you’ll find beaterblade.com instead. The company’s founder (also inventor) created this revolutionary mixer attachment and his company become known by its name ever since. That gizmo cleverly scrapes down the sides of your mixing bowl as your beater turns, making the cooking process much faster and more effortless by far. We actually considered writing about the scraper when we first heard of it, but alas, there are so many products to consider.

When we now heard about the JuiceLab, we had to give NewMetro Design its due. Two amazing products certainly deserve at least one posting. The BeaterBlade is a unique tool, better at incorporating your dry ingredients during the mixing process without the use of a spatula. It’s truly a great product, and the company’s namesake, but today is all about the JuiceLab!

This neat little gadget is the solution to all those half-used lemons and limes that may fill your fridge anytime you decide something needs a dash of citrus. It’s like the lost sock in the dryer… inevitably, no matter how much lemon juice I need, there is always one half left over. Well, no more. Juice that extra lemon. Cap it and store it in the fridge with ease. The JuiceLab holds five ounces, so you can juice a few lemons ahead of time. Clever, unique… Maybe we’ll see NewMetro Design known as “JuiceLab” one day.

Eric: It was my first day off in two weeks, and I awoke with a hankering for a Greyhound. There was no rhyme or reason as to why I had this craving, but there was certainly a solution. The base ingredient wasn’t a problem; opening up my freezer, where I could easily find the “call” vodka section of any bar, my eyes fell to the Skyy (a California vodka made from Kentucky wheat). Then, the challenge fell to locating the second ingredient, and there is no substitute for fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice…

A car ride later and there was a five-pound bag of ruby red grapefruit sitting on my kitchen counter. As I stared down at the counter, there was the cutting board, the chef knife, the bag of grapefruit and the piece de resistance, the JuiceLab…

Not the most versatile piece of equipment, the JuiceLab is designed for one purpose — to provide an easier, more accommodating method for juicing oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruits. Small enough to be stored behind any bar and practical enough to use for everyday beverages, the JuiceLab is as simple as it is elegantly designed. The “wow” factor: being able to store the juice in the same container used to squeeze it. The downside: the container for storing the juice is a little limited in size, and the pulp piles-up fairly quickly while juicing.
Needless to say, I use my JuiceLab every Sunday for Mimosas, and on those one-off days that I wake up with a craving for a Greyhound. JuiceLab is an all-around juicer for the everyday lush…