How to Use an Apple Peeler

Many apple recipes call for peeled and sliced apples...and a peeler and corer can make the job a lot easier. Whether the spiral kind that peels and slices in one motion, or the hand-held kind, apple peelers are easy to use and make quick work of this task.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Apples
• Peeler and corer
• Hand held vegetable peeler
• Wonderful recipes that needed peeled and sliced apples

1. 
   Amazon.com Progressive International Apple Peeler and Corer

   Most apple peelers have a clamp to attach them to the edge of the table. There are a few varieties that have suction cups. Make sure the peeler is secure. Choose medium sizes apples and wash them.
   
   Depress the lever that holds the peeling blade up and lock it down out of the way.
   
   Peelers work by turn the handle, which is attached to a pronged end that's inserted into the fruit. Depress the lever near the handle to pull the handle back, and insert the fruit onto the pronged end. Make sure the fruit aligns with the hole on the opposite side, so that the fruit peels evenly.
   
   Unlock the cutting blade so it's ready to cut, and turn the handle clockwise to advance the apple towards the blade. If the blade jams while cutting, remove the peel and then keep peeling.

2. When the apple is completely peeled, the pronged end will click against the stop. You can then slide the apple off the core, and you'll have a peeled, spiral sliced apple.
   
   To remove the core, depress the handle at the lever end like you did in the beginning, and pull the handle back. The core will fall off.
   
   You can slice the apple once from top to bottom to get rings, or twice to get slices.

3. 
   Various Vegetable Peelers

   There are other, non-mechanized peelers as well.
   
   In the picture, the white Y shaped peeler (called a razor peeler) acts much like a razor when pulled from the top down on the apple. You can also run the blade around the apple in a spiral, starting at the top and working towards the bottom.
   
   With the center, yellow peeler, hold the peeler in your dominant hand, the apple in your other. Grasp the peeler like you were making a fist and then stick out your thumb...like you were hitch-hiking. Put the blade of the peeler against the top of the apple and your thumb against the bottom of the apple.
   
   Push the apple with the thumb on your non-dominant hand against the blade of the peeler, taking the skin off in slices.

4. And what do you do with that lovely spiral apple peel? In Colonial times, girls would use the spiral apple peel to divine the name of the boy they were going to marry. They would toss the spiral peel over their shoulder while saying the following rhyme:
   
   By this paring let me discover
   The initial letter of my true lover.
   
   They looked to the peel on the floor to give them the initial of their true love.

Tips & Warnings

• Even though you're peeling the apple, it's important to wash them well.
• Make sure the peeler is firmly attached to the table to avoid the whole thing tipping over.
• All peeler blades, regardless of the type, have very sharp blades. Keep them away from small children and supervise older children who may use them. And be careful yourself.

Resources

• Peter Halasz, photo credit under Creative Commons License