Italian Blood Orange Juice (Spremuta di Arance Rosse)
Freshly squeezed Sicilian-style blood orange juice, served very cold. It is deep ruby, sweet-tart and lightly berry-like. Nothing is cooked, and a squeeze of lemon is the only optional seasoning.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- —
- Wait
- 1 hr
- Total
- 1 hr 15 min
- Makes
- About 3 cups (720 ml), 4 servings of ¾ cup (180 ml)
Steps
Before you start
- Leave the oranges at room temperature for 30 minutes first. Warm fruit gives more juice than fridge-cold fruit.
- Choose oranges that feel heavy for their size with thin, tight skin. Tarocco, Moro and Sanguinello are the classic Sicilian types.
- Blood orange color varies a lot from fruit to fruit. Juice can range from pale coral to deep crimson, and both taste good.
- Make room in the fridge for a pitcher and 4 glasses. The juice needs about 1 hour to chill.
Wash the oranges
- Scrub the 10 blood oranges under cool running water, then dry them with a clean towel.
- Set them on the counter at room temperature for 30 minutes if they were refrigerated.
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Ready when: Skins feel clean and dry, not waxy or gritty.
Tip: Wash even though you won't eat the peel. The knife drags surface dirt into the juice.
Roll the fruit
- Press each orange firmly under your palm and roll it on the counter for about 10 seconds.
- This breaks the internal membranes so the fruit releases more juice.
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Ready when: Each orange feels slightly softer and gives under pressure.
Halve the oranges
- Cut each orange in half across the middle, through the segments rather than through the stem end.
- Remove any visible seeds with the tip of the knife.
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Ready when: You have 20 halves with the ruby flesh exposed.
Tip: Cut over a board with a juice groove, or a plate, to catch the drips.
Squeeze the juice
- Squeeze each half over the juicer, twisting and pressing firmly to extract all the juice.
- Collect the juice in the pitcher.
- You should get about 3 cups (720 ml).
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Ready when: Each half is a collapsed, pale shell with no more juice running out.
Tip: Don't press the white pith hard against the juicer. It adds bitterness.
Strain the juice
- Pour the juice through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pitcher.
- Press lightly on the pulp with a spoon.
- For a smoother, silkier juice, discard the pulp.
- For a more rustic texture, stir a few spoonfuls back in.
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Ready when: The juice looks uniformly ruby with no seeds or large clumps of pulp.
Taste and adjust
- Taste the juice.
- If it is flat or very sweet, stir in the lemon juice.
- If it is sharp or tart, dissolve the sugar into it.
- Stir for 20 seconds, then taste again.
- Leave it as it is if it tastes balanced.
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Ready when: It tastes bright, sweet-tart and fruity, with no raw sharpness.
Tip: Add sweetener in small amounts. Blood oranges are often naturally sweet.
Chill thoroughly
- Cover the pitcher and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Put the glasses in the fridge too, if there's room.
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Ready when: The pitcher feels cold to the touch all the way through.
Tip: Use the juice within a few hours for the best flavor. It loses brightness as it sits.
Stir and serve
- Stir the juice well, since pulp settles as it chills.
- Add a few ice cubes to each glass if you like, then pour about ¾ cup (180 ml) into each.
- Serve right away.
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Ready when: The juice is ruby-red and very cold, with a thin foam on top.
Tip: Skip the ice if you want to keep the flavor undiluted.
Good to know
Tips
- Juice ripe, heavy fruit as soon as it reaches room temperature for the sweetest, most colorful juice.
- Don't use a blender or food processor. Blending the peel and pith adds bitterness.
- Drink the juice soon after squeezing. Vitamin C and fresh flavor decline as it sits.
- Mix blood orange types if you can. Tarocco is sweeter, while Moro is deeper in color and more tart.
Make ahead
"Squeeze and strain the juice up to 24 hours ahead. Keep it covered in the fridge and stir well before serving. The color and flavor are best within 8 hours."
Storage & reheating
"Room temperature: no more than 1 hour. Fridge: airtight container for up to 2 days (best within 24 hours). Freezer: pour into freezer-safe containers, leaving ½ inch (1 cm) headspace, and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and shake or stir well before drinking."
Substitutions
- medium blood oranges → Navel or Valencia oranges, plus a splash of pomegranate juice. Gives a similar color but a less berry-like flavor. Use about 2 tablespoons of pomegranate juice per 3 cups of orange juice.
- fresh lemon juice → Lime juice. Use the same amount. It gives a slightly sharper, greener note.
- superfine sugar → Honey or agave syrup. Use 2 teaspoons and stir until fully dissolved.
- ice cubes → Chilled sparkling water. Fill each glass with 3 parts juice to 1 part sparkling water for a light spritz.