Sometimes a little lime or lemon juice is the perfect way to garnish a salad, accent a piece of fish or flavour a glass of ice water. Go to cut it, though, and you either blast citric acid in your eye or sprinkle seeds in your food. With Quirky’s Stem, getting a spritz is as easy as stabbing a spike into the fruit’s ripe flesh.
The Claim
“No longer do you have to cut and squeeze your fruit to get the juice out,” the site says. With the nozzle of a spray bottle and a stem like a syringe, the culinary vampire jams straight into the side of a fruit. “With only one finger, you can now spray citrus juice on your favourite foods.”
The Test
We stuck the Stem into lemons, limes and grapefruit. The first few pumps dry-fired, but soon the tube sucked up the juice and a fine mist sprayed forth. With an occasional squeeze or shake to keep the fruit flowing, the stream came consistently.
The Verdict
The Stem works just as advertised. Your misting mileage will vary, depending on the size of the fruit and how fresh and juicy it is. The short 1.5-inch length of the Stem’s plunger also means you’re not going to get every last drop of juice out of that colossal California citrus.
Should You Buy It?
Yes. As long as you don’t mind sacrificing a whole piece of fruit for just a few squirts of flavour, it only costs $US5 and it is ridiculously easy to use.
Quirky Stem
• Materials: Food safe polypropylene plastic
• Price: $US5
A set of serrated teeth on the bottom of the Stem makes it easy to stab into even the thickest of peels.
A small perforated grill on the bottom also lets juice through, while preventing the pump mechanism from getting clogged with pulp.
The bottom of the Stem unscrews into two pieces for easier cleaning.
Once inserted it only takes a few pumps to suck the fruit juice up through the pump and out the nozzle.