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Thoughts on lime juice? |
heelgrinder
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 10, 2005
Posts: 112
From: deep in the jungle of san antonio, texas
|  Posted: 2012-05-11 7:14 pm Permalink
I have a juicer and try to keep fresh lime juice on hand, but it's quite a chore and I go through a lot of limes! Also, not necessarily convenient when travelling and making cocktails away from your own equipment. I guess I should break down and do a taste test with the bottled "from concentrate" lime juice, but would like to hear others' thoughts on this cocktail staple!
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Hakalugi
Site Administrator
Joined: Aug 10, 2004
Posts: 2804
From: Redondo Beach, CA
| Posted: 2012-05-11 7:25 pm Permalink
Try Nellie & Joe's key lime juice. It's worked for me when in a pinch.
http://keylimejuice.com/
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CincyTikiCraig
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 31, 2009
Posts: 327
From: Cincinnati, Ohio USA
| Posted: 2012-05-11 10:01 pm Permalink
Personally, I would only use bottled lime juice as a very last resort. Hand juicers like the one below are small and pretty easy to travel with and use on the fly:
For home use I picked up the below Black & Decker electric citrus juicer on clearence at Big Lots for $16, it's the best investment I ever made cocktail-wise; makes juicing a cinch.
[ This Message was edited by: CincyTikiCraig 2012-05-11 22:36 ]
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jokeiii
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 18, 2010
Posts: 306
From: Miami
| Posted: 2012-05-12 04:21 am Permalink
1- Refrigerated, fresh squeezed lime juice doesn't lose quality for about 6-8 hours. It will keep at high quality, frozen, for 2-3 days.
2- If you use a handheld juicer, do NOT get an enameled one. The acid in lime juice will eat away at the enamel. AMHIK.
3- Bottled Key Lime juice is the best of the bottled juices...and even then, it should be the very, very, very last resort. In fact, I'd avoid making drinks calling for lime juice if I couldn't get fresh juice.
HTH!
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-J.
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heelgrinder
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 10, 2005
Posts: 112
From: deep in the jungle of san antonio, texas
| Posted: 2012-05-13 1:14 pm Permalink
Thanks for the input! I have a champ of an electric juicer for home, but will definitely have to pick up a handheld for travelling!
Might try the key lime sometime, but for now I'll stick to fresh 
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nui 'umi 'umi
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 21, 2011
Posts: 379
From: La Mirada Atoll
| Posted: 2012-05-14 01:47 am Permalink
Heelgrinder I use the yellow hand-held for Persian limes and the green hand-held for key or Mexican limes. Yellow is for lemons of course but the larger Persians are a breeze to squeeze as opposed to fussing with the green h-h. I use a larger stand-up press made by the ice-amatic folks when I'm making more than a few mai tais. I'll use bottled when they figure out how to grow em on trees.My 2 cents!Cheers,David
P S Mine are enameled So I rinse my squeezers asap after using cuz I have the same valid concern jokeiii has.
[ This Message was edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2012-05-14 01:54 ]
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jokeiii
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 18, 2010
Posts: 306
From: Miami
| Posted: 2012-05-14 06:15 am Permalink
In my case -- and I freely admit this may have more to do with the quality level of mine than any sort of inherent flaw in the design -- rinsing the enameled handheld lime juicer, religiously, nanoseconds after using didn't prevent the enamel from eventually flaking and chipping off. The plain polished stainless ones (available at Williams-Sonoma) are my choice now.
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Chip and Andy
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 13, 2004
Posts: 2078
From: Corner table, Molokai Lounge, Mai-Kai.
| Posted: 2012-05-14 08:16 am Permalink
Fresh is always best when it comes to citrus.
Fresh is not always an option.
There is a middle ground....
Any quality bottled juice can be spruced up by adding a bit of fresh to it. If you need a gallon lime juice, but only have access to a dozen limes? Get a quality bottled product and then add the fresh juice to get at least some of the sparkle and life that comes from fresh squeezed.
It isn't as good as fresh, but it is better than bottled/canned/frozen.
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TikiHardBop
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Feb 21, 2009
Posts: 355
From: Rockledge, FL
| Posted: 2012-05-14 12:18 pm Permalink
I've found that the Stirrings people have a pretty good product when it comes to a bottled lime juice. And despite what one might think, the mojito tastes more like lime juice than the margarita. There are also various organic products at the local grocer that are also pretty good and less expensive, but still a pale imitation of the real thing.
And like suggested above, I kind of do the opposite and sometimes use the bottled stuff to extend the fresh stuff. Some times its necessary when you have a larger (or thirstier) crowd than expected.
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4806
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2012-05-15 09:16 am Permalink
Asking this group a simple question like that can open up a large conversation!
Limes keep pretty easily and the simple scissor type hand juicer is fine when mixing for 2 to 4 people. Fresh lime juice is the difference between good and bad cocktails a lot of the time. And you should not worry about speed as these drinks are strong and taking some time will keep the pace better.
The only bottle I use is Nellie's which you will likely find at the grocery store in the baking aisle. It is stronger than persian lime juice, so mix it at about 3/4 normal amounts.
And keep The Grogalizer and Tiki+ handy!
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