Homemade lime juice is unbelievably refreshing and easy to make in a blender to use in recipes, including smoothies, cocktails, cakes and sauces. Learn how to get the most juice from your limes. Store it easily in the refrigerator or as ice cubes. Fresh lime juice boosts immunity, eyes, skin and digestion.
Homemade lime juice is easy to make with only limes and a blender. Making lime juice at home is useful to add to your daily water intake, add tang to fresh drinks and recipes.
Fresh lime juice adds a better flavor than bottled lime juice to a range of drinks including cocktails, juices and smoothies, as well as treats and recipes including popsicles, baked goods, and even spicy sauces. And lime juice made from juicing limes has health benefits, including digestive and immune support.
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What is Lime Juice?
Lime juice is the liquid from a fresh squeezed limes. The best limes to juice are persian limes or key limes as they produce the most juice and have the sweetest aftertaste. Persian limes and key limes are especially best for making a lime juice for fresh cocktails as they have the acidic level necessary to balance optimally with alcohol.
How Much Lime Juice in One Lime?
A key piece of information regarding making fresh lime juice is how much lime juice can you get from one lime.
The answer is one lime can usually produce about 2 tablespoons of lime juice, also called 1 ounce (oz) or 30 ml.
You can buy lime juice in a bottle but store-bought lime juice contains additives and preservatives, and sometimes chemicals to provide a stronger scent and color.
Limes vs Lemons
Limes are sweeter than lemons, due to their lower citric acid content [source]. And lime nutrition is a bit different from lemons. While both fruits are high in citric acid and thus vitamin C, limes are also higher in iron and other essential minerals. Limes also help the body absorb more calcium [source] which is great for bones, and have more vitamin A which supports skin and the immune system.
Step by Step to Make Lime Juice
Generally, you can juice limes in two ways, either using a juicer tool or a blender. The juicing tools you can use include an old fashioned glass juicer, a more modern hand-held juicer or even just your hands.
For more detail, visit the complete and printable recipe at the bottom of this post, but here are general steps for both methods.
Juice with a Juicing Tool
Step one: Microwave a lime one at a time for 20 seconds to make it juicier.
Step two: Roll limes under your hand on the counter or a dish to break the fluid cells in the surface of the lime rind to release more juice.
Step three: Slice a lime in half, not lengthwise for optimum juice. Extract the juice from the two sides by using the tool of your choice or even just squeezing the two sides into a glass.
Juice with a Blender
Step 1. Wash 6 limes, slice off the peel and white pith to keep it from becoming bitter. Chop roughly and place into a blender.
Step 2. Add 1 cup of water to the blender, and blend until cloudy. Some intact pieces can remain; they are probably bits of peel. Pour the mixture through a strainer to remove them, pressing on the mixture with a spoon to collect all the juices.
Step 3. This makes about 1 cup concentrated fresh lime juice. This concentration is about twice as strong as bottle lime juice so use it in your recipes accordingly.
How to Use Lime Juice Concentrate
There are so many ways to use your fresh lime juice or lime juice concentrate. Here are a few ideas.
- Make warm lime water to drink each day [my lime water recipe]
- Make cold lime water to drink each day [my lime water recipe]
- Add to mixed drinks such as margaritas and cocktails
- Stir into smoothies or your morning yogurt
- Use to make infused waters in the summer
- Add to lime pie, cake and cookie recipes
- Use to make frozen treats such as popsicles or ice cream
Benefits of Limes
Limes provide so many nutritional benefits, but here are the top three:
1. Limes support digestion by providing stimulating flavonoids, magnesium and potassium all of which help break down food and move it along through your system. [source]
2. Limes boost immune system because of high levels of vitamin C and antioxidants. Limes can also reduce heart disease, provide collagen and skin support, prevent kidney stones and support healthy skin. [source]
3. Limes support weight loss by stimulating the metabolism and aid in iron absorbtion.[source]
How to Store
Store lime juice or lime concentrate refrigerated 3 days before it may turn bitter. To keep longer, freeze in ice cube trays, store cubes in a bag after frozen and use at will.
PRO-tip: Since we will be using some peel, be sure to buy organic limes since pesticides tend to infuse the peel of citrus fruits.
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Recipe Tips & Ideas
Avoid Bitter Lime Juice
1. To avoid bitter lime juice, try to choose softer, lighter green limes. Hard and dark green will be more bitter.
2. Cut off all peel and white pith. The white pith can be bitter.
3. Taste your lime concentrate and add a teaspoon of sweetener if need be. Choices are maple syrup, monk fruit syrup, and agave syrup.
Dry Lime Peels for Tea
Instead of tossing the peels, dry them and add 1 or 2 dried peels to any cup of tea to boost its nutritional value. To dry them, remove as much of the white pith from the remaining peels. Dry them for 1 hour in a 200 F oven and store in a jar in a dry, dark place.
Make Fruit-Sweetened Limeade
Once you have lime concentrate made from a blender consider making a sweet refreshing limeade sweetened with pears.
To make limeade, simply blend up 2 cups of water, ½ cup lime juice concentrate, and 1 -2 peeled soft white pears. Serve over ice!
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📖 Recipe
Homemade Lime Juice
Equipment
- glass juicer
- handheld juicer
Ingredients
Homemade Lime Juice
- 6 limes organic
- 1 cup water
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Instructions
Juice with a Juicing Tool
- Microwave a lime one at a time for 20 seconds to make it juicier.6 limes
- Roll limes under your hand on the counter or a dish to break the fluid cells in the surface of the lime rind to release more juice.
- Slice a lime lengthwise instead of cross-wise to extract the juice from the two sides by using the tool of your choice.
Juice in a Blender (make lime juice concentrate)
- You can microwave and roll 6 limes similarly to create optimum juice levels. Then wash limes, peel most of peel and pith off.6 limes
- Chop the limes roughly and place into a blender.
- Add 1 cup of water to blender, and blend until cloudy. Some intact pieces can remain.1 cup water
- Pour the mixture through a strainer, pressing on mixture with a spoon to collect all the juices. Makes 1 cup of concentrate; twice as strong as bottled lime juice.
Margaret says
I love lime juice but am a senior and no longer have the strength to squeeze citrus, especially tough limes. I wish I had seen your recipe sooner. Thanks so much.
Dee Dine says
I'm so glad it was helpful! Thank you for the rating and your kind comment.
Jude says
So easy and useful.