Taking the pith (John Lewis CCJ100JLU)

Member Name: Chouchin

Product:	John Lewis CCJ100JLU
Date:	26/08/09 (64 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Powerful, extracts a lot of juice

Disadvantages: Messy

Let me start by saying that you don't really need this product. Life of a perfectly reasonable quality can go on without one. On the hierarchy of needs it's up there with gas barbecues, classical music mobile ring tones and Dan Brown novels. They're there, so have them if you must. And when it comes to freshly squeezed orange juice, I'm afraid I must. I like my juice straight from the fruit, complete with bits of pulp, pith and a few small pips to give it body. I am not alone. If any of you follow the acerbic, annoying, but always readable Michael Winner restaurant column in the Sunday Times, you'll know he feels the same way, although I like to think that's our only point of resemblance (at the moment - I'm working on the millionaire thing). I'm sure there are others of you in this select band, so read on.

A one-fruit wonder

The other thing to make clear at the outset is that although this extracts juice, it is not a Juice Extractor. No. Searching for one of these on Google, you may find yourself absent-mindedly typing in "juice extractor" and an array of attractive products will appear, every one of which will say sternly "not suitable for citrus fruits". Juice Extractors pulp fruit into smoothies and such like; this is a much more exclusive bit of kit and is, of course, a Citrus Press. So here we have a single-use, somewhat superfluous machine with an identity problem, possibly endorsed by a fat bloke selling car insurance on TV. Onwards.

The fruits of my labour

I bet all of you have lurking at the back of your kitchen cupboard a plastic juice squeezer consisting of a cone which sits on a collecting dish. Why don't I use one of these, save on kitchen space, electricity and minimise my carbon footprint? Well, I'm weak and feeble and citrus fruits can be real tough cookies, if you'll excuse the mixed metaphor. The blokes in the house wouldn't dream of getting their fingers sticky, but we all want more than a teaspoonful of fresh orange juice for breakfast. I've had an electric citrus press for years now, and when the last one cashed in its pips I reverted briefly to manual labour. For a few weeks it was like a morning workout, and I was shaping up to become a one-sided Popeye until I called a halt and found this machine.

It's good to torque

Torque is defined as the force which produces rotation. Amongst petrol heads it is considered a Good Thing, something to do with the mysterious workings of the internal combustion engine. Here, the greater the torque, the more the cone twists against the flesh of the fruit to extract the juice. The electric citrus presses have the same basic shape as the manual ones - a cone on top of a juice collector. A motor generates more power, hence more torque and more juice. Some fruit halves are left as clean as a whistle. It still needs some human input: you set it going by pressing the fruit half down on the cone (there's no on/off switch) and can help it along by squeezing the fruit against the cone as it's rotating to extract more juice.

Rocket-proportioned...

All my citrus presses have had the same basic design: motor at the base, juice collector on top, cone on top of that and recently a dust cover to fit over the cone to prevent an interesting admixture of crumbs and dead flies livening up your vitamin C. This particular appliance stands a bit taller, at about 8½ inches, and at first I marvelled, wrongly, at how much juice it would hold. A full 6 inches of this height is motor, leaving the juice collector a relatively shallow 2½ inches. In terms of payload to propulsion think Saturn V rocket. Unlike similar machines which tend to be squat and plastic, this is sleek, the motor section brushed stainless steel and the base and juice collector rocket black. It looks lean, mean and handsome and would not disgrace your elegant kitchen. It positively enhances mine. It also has a trick up its sleeve, or, more precisely, tucked under its dust cover.

....and turbo-powered

When you've squeezed your fruit as normal, put the dust cover over the cone and press again. The dust cover makes contact with connections round the outside rim which switches on the turbo power. The motor develops a deep-throated roar, spins faster and extracts more juice from the pulp and pith left on the cone. I think this dual-purpose is really neat, practical - and effective. It's surprising how much more juice comes out, proving my point that torque is all.

My cup runneth over?

No, it doesn't, not even if you're feeding a family of ten for breakfast. Even though the collector is quite small (and a previous one I had was so deep I don't think large areas of it were ever sullied by juice) it has a hinged spout which you leave open when you're juicing, so there's a constant flow out. And into a glass, assuming you remember to put one there, a mistake you make only once. The advantage of the hinge is to stop drips as you're swapping glasses, and when you're done.

Does it take the strain?

The design of the filter section has to be a compromise between letting the maximum amount of juice through and holding back as much bitty stuff as possible. From my vast experience of these machines, to err on the side of keeping out the pips means not enough juice comes through and you have to stop every few minutes and clear out the pulp that has gathered. Those of us who like fresh squeezed juice tend to also like the bits that come with it and I'm pleased to say this model has no truck with the no-bits brigade. If you feel moved to sieve freshly squeezed juice I would say you need to get a life and live with tetrapaked reconstituted gloop.

Coming clean

The upside is that it's dishwasher proof. The downside is that there's pulp and pith all over everything, including the inside of the dust cover. I recommend rinsing this out right away, as dried citrus pulp has the bonding power of concrete. Get it out of the sink drainer as well. The brushed stainless steel section needs a wipe to keep its good looks.

Are there any lemons?

Well, nothing's perfect, so yes, a couple. The faster spin generates such a centrifugal force that the pips and pulp are flung to the outside of the cone section, which has a concave edge, and are a bit of a fiddle to extract, to put it mildly. In the interests of factual correctness, a small digression follows. When I pointed this phenomenon out to the aforementioned blokes-who-won't-get-their-fingers-sticky I was treated to a longish discourse on the fact that centrifugal force doesn't actually exist. It's simply we morons being misled by our senses: the pips and stuff are actually following a straight line while the rotating cone is moving away from them and there is no centripetal force (which does exist) to hold them in place. Or something. Fascinating, although some help in cleaning out the effects of the not-force would have been more practical. Obviously this not-force also chucks the juice out of the spout as the cone is rotating, but even at turbo-speed some is left in the collector. Something to do with flow dynamics, no doubt. I haven't asked. So to get every last drop you have to remember to tip and pour.

The final segment

In the £10 - £20 price range I would definitely recommend this. At one time John Lewis didn't sell electric citrus presses at all, but eventually produced this one under their own brand. The next stage up is a more commercial thing with levers, and that's a whole different kettle of physics. Now I expect you're all feeling a bit hot and bothered with all this talk of squeezing flesh, not to mention scientific conundrums, so can I suggest a glass of fresh orange juice?

Summary: A great little machine for the price

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Cleaning/Maintenance:
Quality: