My very first juicer was the Black & Decker CitrusMate citrus juicer.  The first thing is that it only costs about $25.  It is an electric model and is very easy to handle.  The juice container sits on top of the base, and a rod rotates in the middle when pressure is applied down.  When the lid is placed on top, the rod is connected to the reamer that is used to juice the citrus fruit.  As you push down on the reamer, it rotates and will juice the fruit.  It even alternates between clockwise and counter-clockwise to really get all the juice out of your fruit.  The lid conveniently has a strainer that doesn’t allow the pulp to fall through into the juice container.  It has 3 settings that let you control how much pulp goes through – no pulp, a little pulp, most of the pulp.  Finally, there are two different sized reamers, allowing you to juice big and small citrus fruits.

The CitrusMate is actually a great product if you are only interested in citrus juice.  If all you want is to be able to make orange juice in the morning, or fresh lemon juice to make lemonade, this is the juicer for you.  It will juice oranges, grapefruits, tangerines, lemons, limes, and so on.  It is quick and easy to use, and does a great job of getting most of the juice.  Compared to what you would pay for a good citrus press (about $150), you are definitely getting plenty of bang for your buck with the CitrusMate.

The first downside is obvious – it only juices citrus fruits.  You will HAVE to upgrade to juice any kind of vegetable.  Another disadvantage is cleaning.  For such simple tasks, washing the lid and container each time is a pain.  Finally, this citrus juicer will not be able to juice the rinds, which contain a lot of nutrients that you don’t want to miss out on.

Overall, the CitrusMate citrus juicer does its job, and it does it well.  As a first juicer, you cannot go wrong.

The way an electric citrus juicer works nowadays is with a cone that is attached to a reamer that spins when pressure is applied down. It will spin continuously in one direction until you stop pushing down. When you apply pressure again, it will spin in the opposite direction. This ensures that you will get as much juice out of the fruit as possible. Also, your arms won’t get tired trying to squeeze every last drop of juice since it’s electrically powered.

Unfortunately, it is limited to only citrus fruits, so you would have to get a different juicer if you want to use juicer recipes that require apples or carrots. Also, you won’t be able to juice the rind, which is packed with plenty of nutrients.

The citrus juicer I use is a Black and Decker CitrusMate. It is very easy to use and makes very little mess. It also has a feature that allows you to adjust the strainer to allow more (or less) pulp in your juice. An electric model will cost more (about $25), but it does a very efficient job and if you enjoy citrus juice or use it a lot for other juicer recipes such as lemonade, or for alcoholic beverages, it is worth it. If you decide against it, you should invest in a small hand operated citrus juicer at the very least for simple jobs.

Of course, there are extremely high end citrus juicers as well.  Some can cost as much as $600, like sunkist juicers!  In my opinion, this is WAY too much money (I’m guessing you feel the same way too.)  For most casual uses, you can get good citrus juicers for much much cheaper.

If you are interested in juicing a larger variety of fruits and vegetables (and you definitely should be), you will need to upgrade to either a centrifugal juicer or auger juicer.