A vintage juicer beats new ones to a pulp
Ever since my faithful little Krug citrus juicer bit the dust, I’ve been juicing oranges by hand on one of those old-fashioned glass models you sit over a bowl. Or with a metal Mexican hand-held job, a slightly larger version of the lime squeezer.
Why? Because I haven’t been able to find a compact electric juicer that works. I don’t like to keep small appliances out on the counter, so I want something that can be stowed away in a drawer. And I don’t want some big pig of a machine, however efficient.
I finally thought I’d found a compact electric model, ordered it online and returned it after making two glasses of juice. It had a design defect: The hole that the juice ran through kept getting clogged with pulp.
For larger juicing jobs, I’ve been borrowing a neighbor’s vintage Proctor Silex Juicit J101W. This modelwas last made in the 1970s, I believe. The design is a bit lumpen, but it works beautifully.
Funny, when I was just in New York, my friend Mary complained how juicers these days don’t have a powerful enough motor: When you press the orange down on the reamer, the motor strains and sometimes stops. She got up on a step-stool to pull out her vintage juicer: the very same Proctor Silex model, 125 watts as opposed to 30 to 80 watts for some of the newer juicers.
OK, so I set up a search on EBay. The Proctor-Silex Juicit does show up, but for weeks the ones I saw seemed too pricey or too worn. Finally, I bid on one in excellent condition and won the auction for $31, plus $10 shipping, which seems fair. It’s heavy duty. The body is metal, the reamer porcelain and this juicer just rips through the oranges, giving out a steady stream with just the right amount of pulp.
Mornings are just a bit happier now.