This Old-Fashioned Apple Peeler Is the Best Way to Peel Apples
Like with any handheld tool, a little trial and error is involved. I’ve found the faster you crank, the better. If you start and stop—either on purpose or because of a bruised or otherwise misshapen apple—the peel can get tangled and take you off-track. (Speaking of the peeler, be careful. It’s sharp.)
And though the rubber base has a lever to help it suction your countertop, it can be finicky and lose stickiness over time. Placing one hand over the base as you crank works well to steady the machine. Wetting the base a bit can help it stick too, a tip Lesley picked up somewhere along the way to dehydrating 126 pounds of apples.
Unless you’re a dehydrating hobbyist or are lucky enough to have your own apple tree, you probably won’t use your apple peeler that often. But I like to think its seasonality gives it its own kind of patina. Some of my earliest Thanksgiving memories are sitting at the kitchen counter, peeling apples. Now I supervise my nephews doing the same.
For my family, the hand-crank apple peeler’s presence has become just as synonymous with the holiday as the sour-cream apple pie we use it to make. Call me old-fashioned, but I’m not sure that a more-modern gadget would hold such a pull over me. And I’ve certainly yet to find one that gets the job done nearly as well.
This article was edited by Marguerite Preston and Catherine Kast.
