Food - Drink
How Jacques Pépin Cuts Lemons To Get The Most Juice
By KAREN HART
There are several different ways to juice a lemon, and you probably have a method that you favor most of the time. Still, if you need a lot of juice out of just one lemon, and you don't have a high-tech electric juicer or other gadgets, you'll want to try this simple knife trick from world-renowned chef Jacques Pépin.
Before you cut your lemon, Pépin suggests either rolling the lemon on a hard surface, dropping it into boiling water for 10 seconds, or putting it in the microwave for 5 seconds to soften the whole fruit so it yields more juice. When it's time to cut the fruit, the chef says you shouldn't halve it down the middle for best results.
Pépin instead cuts a slit into the side of the lemon, which will yield more juice when you squeeze the cut side and crush the whole fruit. You can also use a skewer to puncture the non-stem side of the lemon and make a deep hole, which will then allow the juices to freely flow once the skewer has been pulled out.