A Super-Simple Trick for Fresh Apple Juice (No Machine Needed!)

Making fresh fruit juice can be a labor of love. Rather than blending whole fruits or vegetables, juicing extracts liquid from raw produce with either a centrifugal or masticating “cold press” juicer. The benefit, though, is that you’re getting the plant’s concentrated flavor, nutrients, and enzymes.

Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski, the Michelin-starred chefs from San Francisco’s State Bird Provisions, describe a method for juicing apples that’s a little less laborious (with just as lovely results) in their latest book. Rather than pressing apples with special machines or tools, they freeze the fruits for 8 hours, defrost them completely (about 3 hours), then squeeze the flesh. The fruit becomes so soft in the frosting/defrosting process, that you can squeeze out all the liquid with just your hands.

“The resulting liquid has an intense, concentrated flavor, the sweetness and tartness heightened,” they write. “Plus the liquid doesn’t oxidize like it would if you had just juiced it and it takes on a pretty pink hue.”

Brioza and Krasinkski learned the technique from former pastry chef Mikiko Yui and use it as the base of a blush-colored granita. Feel free to riff on their example, or simply squeeze your own pretty pink juice.

How do you make fruit juice? Let us know any tips for an easier squeeze in the comments!