Here's How To Actually Use A Citrus Juicer Because We've Been Doing It All Wrong

When it comes to culinary techniques, we usually throw things into one of two categories: Master Chef, Hard AF or Psh Easy, I Got This. Anything from julienning (without losing a finger) to getting a soufflé to rise, realistically falls in the former bucket. And the latter? We'd say that peeling potatoes and juicing a lemon are about as easy as it gets. Or, at least, that's what we used to say, until one twitter user dropped the following kitchen tool knowledge on us: we've been using citrus juicers incorrectly for, well, our entire lives.

Buzzfeed first drew our attention to @FreddyAmazin's Tweet detailing the widespread juicing blunder — and after news broke, the internet went bananas. The post began with an emotionally relatable caption: "So I've been doing this wrong my entire life...it's all been a lie...feeling bamboozled...who am i". @FreddyAmazin's lamentation (we feel it, too) is followed by the photographic evidence of this shocking culinary crime. The picture features a four block pic-stitch detailing the incorrect and correct way to hand juice a lime (or lemon). And no, it's not by the simple "slice it in half and place it face down into the juicer" method we've been following for years.. The correct method, as it so turns out, is a tad bit more nuanced than that. So, in short, we're a bunch of absolute citrus noobs.

The correct way to juice a lemon or lime is as follows. Initially, you do start by slicing it in half, but then you slice off an additional portion of the opposite end, placing the larger portion facing up (instead of down) within the juicing contraption before pressing. We'll let that sink in for a moment. While, yes, we too feel "bamboozled," this does makes much more practical sense. Not only does the double slice allow optimal juice production from either end, but the overall flow is freed up for a better final juicing result.

Although we were initially stunned by this discovery, we are thankful for the correct culinary technique lesson it has taught us and we will not be moving citrus juicing into the "Master Chef, Hard AF" category. Because although we might not be masters at julienning a cuke with ease, we can handle the extra slicing step on a piece of fruit.