I used to pick seeds out of my lemon water with my fingers. Every single time. Squeeze, pluck, squeeze, pluck. It was annoying but I figured that was just how lemons worked — you accept a certain number of seeds as the price of fresh citrus.

Then I watched a bartender juice about forty lemons in five minutes without picking out a single seed. I asked how. He showed me.

Cut the fat end off

Most people cut lemons in half across the middle — the equator cut. That works but it also cuts through the seed chambers, releasing seeds into the juice. Instead, cut about a third of the way from the pointed end, leaving most of the lemon intact. This exposes a smaller surface area and keeps the seed chambers sealed inside.

Squeeze from this smaller opening. The juice comes out fine. The seeds stay put because you have not sliced through their compartments.

The fork trick

If you need a lot of juice — say for lemonade or a whole chicken marinade — stick a fork into the cut end and twist while squeezing. The fork breaks up the membranes inside without cutting the seeds loose. You get about 30% more juice this way and still no seeds.

I tried this side by side with my old method. Fork method: zero seeds, noticeably more juice. Old method: four seeds in the glass and my fingers smelled like lemon for the rest of the afternoon.

What about a citrus squeezer?

Those hinged metal squeezers work and they do catch most seeds. But they also leave a decent amount of juice behind — I always end up squeezing the spent half by hand anyway. The cut-and-fork method requires no special tools and wastes less fruit.

One more thing

Roll the lemon hard on the counter before cutting. Press down with your palm and roll for about ten seconds. This breaks the juice vesicles inside and you will get almost double the yield. Bartenders do this without thinking about it. I never did, and my lemonades were weak for years because of it.

Now I squeeze lemons like an adult. No seeds, more juice, zero finger-plucking.