Black & Decker CJ525 CitrusMate Plus Citrus Juicer
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Black & Decker CJ525 CitrusMate Plus Citrus Juicer
Customer Review: Black and Decker Citrusmate: Great Juice, Great Value
Summary: 5 Stars
Black and Decker Citrusmate is a simplistic small appliance with many good reasons to consider it for your kitchen. This juicer takes up little space, offers cord wrap storage underneath, features a reversible reamer, and produces fresh- squeezed juice for a much lower cost than other juicers.
Black and Decker Citrusmate requires little effort to extract the juice and the reamer is just as effective as the more expensive juicers at maximizing the amount of juice squeezed from your favorite fruit. The reamer on this juicer is reversible and the dual- action is activated by letting up on the pressure, then pressing again. Each time you do this, the reamer spins the opposite way. The back and forth action helps to squeeze out as much juice as possible. The pitcher will be filled with juice rather quickly as you move from one piece of fruit to the next.
Another feature I like with this juicer is its operation. There is no on/off switch and many consumers will find this unusual at first. But this is really for the better because with an on/off switch, you have to continuously flip the switch off and back on as you go from one piece of fruit to the next. The way this juicer is designed, there is no worry about messing with a switch. The juicer starts up when a piece of fruit is pressed against the reamer and stops when it is taken away.
Pulp is always an issue with any juicer, and while there is no pulp extractor, this juicer still has you covered. It collects the pulp and seeds in the strainer as you juice your fruit. When you are finished, you can scoop out the amount of pulp you like and add it to the juice itself. Or, if you don't like pulp, you can discard it and drink your juice pulp- free. This might seem a little on the manual side to some consumers, but the lack of special pulp extractors helps keep the device simple and trouble- free.
Fresh- squeezed juice is healthy and makes ordinary beverages taste even better than before. With Citrusmate, consumers have a means to extract juice without overspending on a juicer that contains more features than necessary. It's a surprisingly good small appliance and certainly an excellent value for the money.
Customer Review: Oh salvation, in juicer form
Summary: 4 Stars
OK. For two years I used that Cuisinart citrus juicer -- the stainless steel model that looks good on your shelf but turns out to be the Worst Product Ever if you ever actually try to use it. For more details on why that juicer was terrible, feel free to check out my review -- it was a true symphony of atrocious product design. Suffice it to say I was actually very happy when I accidentally dropped the Cuisinart juicer on the floor and it started making a horrible grinding noise, giving me the perfect excuse to buy this one instead.
It made me so very happy to use this one for the first time, because:
* You can use it with one hand and it doesn't try to walk across the counter!
* It doesn't have a spout, so it can't drip juice all over the counter!
* It has a built-in pitcher, so you don't have to waste a glass!
* It has two cones, one for oranges and a smaller one for lemons!
* It has a piece of plastic attached to the bottom cone that moves the pulp around in the pulp tray to get more juice out of it!
Only thing I wish is that they had put cup measurements on the pitcher (they have ounces, though). The pulp strainer is a little gimmicky -- but then I usually strain my juice again with a mesh strainer before I use it in a recipe, so I don't mind. The whole thing is plastic and felt a little lightweight, but it works really well.
If you don't have a juicer and wonder if you really need one when you can just use a reamer or a citrus squeezer, all I can say is having a citrus juicer makes citrus desserts like key lime pie and lemon cheesecake seem far more feasible, and it's kind of fun to juice things anyway. This also does a better job than my hand strength can do on one of those press-type squeezers. And it's only fifteen bucks. Works for me.
I chucked the Cuisinart model in the trash...good riddance. Thank you, Black & Decker, for making an appliance you clearly actually tested in real world situations.
Customer Review: Have Citrus, Will Juice
Summary: 5 Stars
PROS: Two different sized reamers with sweepers, adjustable pulp basket, powerful motor, easy to clean
CONS: Can be unstable if you aren't careful during juicing.
DETAIL:
This is an incredible juicer for the price you pay. I bought this to replace the Cuisinart CCJ-100 Citrus Pro Juicer that I returned after 1 week of use.
For under $20, you get a generous sized pitcher with a nice wide spout, two reamers for different sized fruits, and a nice powerful motor to turn it with.
The reamer is self reversing, meaning it will change direction to squish as much of the fruit pulp as possible. The reamer also has "sweaper" blades on it that moves the pulp along the rim to ensure the juice flows into the pitcher and not over flow onto the counter.
you are able to select 3 different settings for pulp control. This is basically just selecting how large the holes in the juicing basket are to allow little to a lot of pulp to fall into the pitcher.
Clean up is easy if you do it quickly. You should rinse the reamer, the juicing basket and the pitcher as soon as you are finished or the pulp with dry out and clog the strainer. This will make it extremely difficult to clean after-wards, so do yourself a favor.
The only bad thing I can pick on this juicer for is that you need to use two hands. You will find that not holding onto the pitcher or base while juicing will make the entire appliance spin when you apply pressure with the fruit.
Otherwise, the Black & Decker is fast, effective, and a fantastic buy. I have had mine for more than a year now. The only problems that have manifested is the pulp indicator dye is starting to wear off. Mechanically, this machine is still going strong.
Customer Review: good for price, uneven juicing of oranges/grapefruits
Summary: 3 Stars
I wasn't crazy about this item, and since it had a crack in the handle I was able to return it.
This is a great juicer for its price, but not one I'd recommend otherwise. The pulp sieve is great if you're not a fan of pulp BUT if you like pulp, you won't get much. It is also difficult to clean. I washed this by hand immediately after using, but the pulp gets stuck in the sieve and is difficult to remove.
This is great for lemons, oranges and grapefruit, on the other hand, are not effectively juiced. I had a remarkably easy time juicing lemons and blood oranges, but when it came to grapefruit and navel oranges, this juicer would not work for me! Too much pulp collected around the mechanism and had to be cleaned away before any more juicing could occur. Additionally, my oranges and grapefruits weren't juiced evenly. I know it sounds funny but one side of the orange would be juiced, but another would still have a lot left to be juiced!
Someone mentioned power - for bigger citrus fruits it does take a bit more manual pressure, but if you're like me and used to hand squeezing this is nothing! Also, I noticed that this would move around on my countertop...not very sturdy.
The cord is SHORT! It seems like a good idea in theory, but it is a ridiculously short length. Not very functional..
PROS
-price
-2 heads for juicing large and small citrus fruits
-great for lemons and blood oranges!
-although fairly small, can hold a lot of juice
CONS
-sometimes moves around on countertop
-sieve is hard to clean
-sieve does not allow much pulp to pass
-doesn't allow one to store juice in the fridge (no cover)
-uneven juicing of larger citrus fruits
-short cord
Customer Review: Close to perfect in function with an amazing price
Summary: 4 Stars
OK, so I make lemonade (ginger lemonade to be specific)... I make... a lot of lemonade... seriously a lot... you know those 5-10 gallon pickle jars? Yeah, try explaining why you have one of those full of pale pulpy liquid at Christmas dinner...
All I really need to say is that this has made many gallons and never left me unhappy. I'll throw in the details that it turns in both directions so I get the most bang for my buck by putting on a fruit half, letting it juice, taking it off, putting it right back on, and letting it turn the other way to finish getting the rest that is hanging on the pith... and it has a small and large juicer size... I tend to use small fruit in general as long as it is buy the pound (juicier with better rind in particular)...
Honestly, even if I used this only one summer of energized juicing and handed it off, my hands would much rather spend it on this than arthritis medicine, be it NSAIDS or, worse, Aspercreme, from all the squeezing.
As for people having problems with it being "wimpy," you shouldn't, if you pick ripe enough fruit, need to push remarkably hard. I've only had a couple of "bad lemons" in reality, and it was 1) my own fault for being less attentive about them in the off-season and 2) wasteful for juicing, anyway, even AFTER removing the pith, as hard lemons=little juice, much fiber. Easy enough principle... stick with soft, smooth fruit (less pores=riper, juicier, ask any citrus farmer and they'll tell you the same thing...)