'Tis the Season! (For Fresh-Squeezed Juice)
Early February brings most of us (in the Northern Hemisphere) few pleasures. 'Tis the season for not too many fun things (unless you count Groundhog Day). "The Holidays" are well behind us and Carnival/Mardi Gras is still almost 3 weeks away. But the outdoor markets and grocery stores are brimming with delicious citrus fruit, and with a little effort you can highlight your morning with some fresh-squeezed blood orange juice (yeah, that's just orange juice, no cranberries, pomegranates or actual blood involved here). Gabriel loves him some fresh-squeezed orange juice (worlds away, I might add from the kind from the stuff at the supermarket both in nutrition and in flavor) so he buys the oranges by the crate (from a guy who sells out of his truck on the corner, if you can believe that!) He takes about 5 oranges for a really big glass, slices each at the meridian and squeezes them by hand on our low-tech plastic citrus juicer. That's it.
In coffee shops all around Milan this season, you find piles of oranges waiting to be juiced for about the equivalent of $3-$4 for a small glass. It's a great, healthy alternative to waking up with coffee, but since we're the do-it-yourself types, we, umm... do it ourselves. Why don't you give it a try?
posted by Susan in Italy @ 3:55 PM
14 Comments:
Hi Susan - Thursday 8/2 at 7pm - Liberty Bar (in Milan) - I've never been there but someone suggested it. There's a thread on the Expats in Italy forum, I'll try to get the address of the bar.
mmmmm.....fresh juice. Do it yourself, I couldn't agree more. Never done blood orange juice - that's a funky color.
Love the fresh squeezed juice, but we rarely do it at home, which is a shame because I have my grandmother's glass juice rheemer thingy.
Here in the states, we will frequent Jamba Juice for their fresh squeezed, because it's actually really reasonable. 16 oz for about $4 and they juice it when you order it.
A nice tall glass of fresh squeezed juice sounds so delicious right now!
i always "hated" orange juice growing up because all i ever saw was the boxed kind that always had a funky smell/flavor. when someone finally offered me fresh-sqeezed, i realized what all of the fuss was about. why is it such a novelty in the states? you can find it anywhere here and cheap.
In Rome I had some apple juice. I was expecting what I'm used to back home. I received a green (they must have used Granny apples?) juice that was amazing.
My parents have become big juicers since moving back to St. Martin. Easy to do when you have friut trees in your backyard.
I looooove blood oranges. Trader Joes sells this Italian Blood Orange soda that is fantastic.
i remember visiting my grandparents in florida as a child, and each morning they would pick the ripe oranges off the trees in their backyard and squeeze them into juice. mmmm! right now i'm sipping an apple cider/ cranberry custom blend (by me). sounds like i haven't gotten past the holiday spirit, doesn't it?
Hi Ms. Thanks, I'll do my best to show up.
HI Scott, I think the shorter the period between between squeezing and drinking, the more vitamins remain in the juice.
HI Cherry, Oh, I forgot about Jamba Juice.
Hiya Beenzzz!
HI Tracie, Here's my 2 cent analysis: After WWII, the US got really good at injecting technology into many areas of life, including food. And a lot of people were in love with that. SO, being able to mass-produce frozen concentrated orange juice and ship it thousands of miles was an innovation and it had a modern cache'. So waddya think of that?
HI Ragazza, Wow! I wonder how they made the green juice. Was it fresh squeezed?
Hi Melissa, My Floridian grandparents had the same thing! it was great. Apple cider with cranberry sounds yummy!
Mmmmmm, the blood orange juice looks soooo good! In India you find juice stalls everywhere (it's always so hot, so a tall glass of juice sells really well). Mostly they sell you sugarcane or orange juice, but "mosambi" (a kind of sweet lime) is very popular too.
Hi Lotus,
Wow, I can only imagine how good all those juices would be. One question, you'd mentioned in an old post that some street vendors are to be avoided, that you might get sick from eating their wares. Would juice count among those or are they pretty safe? It would be so tantalizing to see tropical juice vendors everywhere and NOT be able to drink any!
Susan,
I don't know how they made the juice. I am assuming it was fresh...it tasted like they just picked the apples that morning. I cannot wait for my trip (I'm going back to Rome in 3 weeks.)
Ooh Ragazza, Have a great time! I'll bet you're really excited.
Hi again, Susan!
Yes, the uncovered juice stalls should be avoided because of the flies and low standards of hygiene, but lots of fancy juice bars are springing up all over the place - ofcourse, they charge a whole lot more but atleast you know you won't be sick! :) Lychee, Mango and Guava pulp/juice enjoy huge popularity as well.
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