The Truth About Peelers…
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Peelers are sometimes called vegetable peelers or potato peelers. They do have alternative uses beyond peeling, including shaving chocolate for a garnish, shaving cheese, and thinly slicing vegetables. Peelers are best at there job though with fruits and vegetables that aren’t to soft or juicy.
You should first look at how the peeler is connected to the handle much like you when shopping for knives. A wooden handle is considered less quality because the wood is so porous and can be home for bacteria. You should consider a plastic handle for comfort and sanitary reasons.
The specifics of the peelers design should be based largely on your personal preferences and hand sizes. The comfort in your hand is the most important element.
There are 3 different designs of peelers generally. The Lancashire peelers are generally the most commonly used with this style you hold the fruit and move the peeler towards yourself as you slice off the peel by digging into the fruit body.
The Y-peeler is like a razor for fruit and is used much the same way as you would go about shaving your legs. You generally push the peeler away from your body as you rub the “blade” across the fruit.
The third peeler type doesn’t really have a style name, but is becoming known as the Australian Peeler. This peeler is a plastic handle that supports the top and bottom of the blade and can rotate partially. This peeler has the cutting blade on the inside of the blade which makes it harder to cut yourself. However, if you are outside of Australia this style maybe hard to find and more expensive.
You should consider peelers based on your needs as well, most will offer some sort of element that will make it easy to clean out the eyes of the potatoes.
Do you want a straight blade or a serrated? There are both available.
Peelers are generally dishwasher safe, but pay attention to this. There are places that will still slip by one that is not. I suggest getting a dishwasher safe version even if you don’t use a dishwasher.
Your new peeler should come with at least a 1 year guarantee as well.
There is nothing like the ease of peeling with a properly sharp and comfortable in your hand peeler, so check your kitchen and make sure yours fits this description. If not consider getting something more appropriate.
For me, my peeler is the Australian style which I paid more for, but I love a great sweet potato which has a harder body and harder to peel skin. This style fits my needs best.
Here is a small variety of the peelers available: