The OXO Lemon Reamer is one of those tools I never knew I needed until the first time I used it. In fact, if you never make any dishes that require lemon juice you probably don’t need it. I recently found a great recipe for chicken picata which does indeed require lots of fresh squeezed lemon juice.

What is it?

For those of you who aren’t kitchen geeks, a lemon reamer is a tool used to get the juice out of lemons. To use it you cut a lemon in half, hold one half in one hand and use the other hand to twist the reamer around inside the lemon. This results in the juice pouring out of the lemon – you will want to do this over a bowl to collect the juice. You could probably also use this same tool for limes and larger fruits like oranges although the size is ideal for a lemon.

This particular lemon reamer is solid metal and has a black rubber covered handle. The reamer piece is about 3″ and the handle equally long. The reamer is quite heavy for a kitchen utensil, and feels very solid. This is unfortunate for my hardwood floors, as it left a dent in my floor when I dropped it! Like all OXO products, this is a high quality tool.

Does it work well?

Yes! Previously, I was squeezing lemons by hand and not only was it frustrating and time consuming but I just didn’t get as much juice out of the lemons as I could. With this reamer I was amazed that I now needed half as many lemons to get the same amount of juice! I knew I was not getting all the juice out of the lemons – but I had no idea I was missing that much!

Normally, I’m not crazy about having lots of little kitchen gadgets around. I feel like they just get in the way and you only use them a couple times a year. This reamer, however, is completely worth the space it takes up. Anyone who ever cooks with lemons should get one of these tools right away.

Also posted to Epinions.