Put Down The Knife And Pick Up This Old-School Kitchen Tool For Uniformly Peeled Apples

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While peeled and sliced apples were once the centerpiece of a variety of homemade dishes and baked goods, nowadays apples are most often consumed whole or sliced with the skin on. Unless you bake regularly, you probably don't often find yourself facing the obnoxious chore of peeling a bowlful of apples. That's probably why kitchen gadgets dedicated to peeling, slicing, and coring apples slowly became less popular. But when you need to make an apple-centered dish, having an apple peeler on hand will make the task much faster (and less annoying).

An apple peeler is a vintage kitchen gadget many don't remember. This old-school kitchen tool was designed to be clamped on the edge of a counter or table. You attach one apple at a time to prongs on the device's rod, then turn a crank and it swiftly cores an apple. At the same time, it peels and slices the apple quickly and uniformly.

One of the first apple parer and slicers was invented by Levi Van Hoesen in 1855. It was somewhat large and complex, however, and was improved upon by David Goodell in 1864. His simple invention was small, lightweight, and easy to set up and store. Though it wasn't the only gadget for peeling apples, it quickly became the most popular. Modern versions stay true to the simplicity of the original and can core, peel, and slice an apple in about 15 seconds. The gadget even works on pears and potatoes.

Even if you only peel apples rarely, the process can take half an hour or longer. Whether you're under a deadline or just hate the chore, an apple peeler is a simple kitchen tool that makes prepping fruit a breeze. To prepare enough apples for an apple pie, it only takes around five minutes.

You can also adjust the peeler to the task at hand; for instance, if you want to skip a step and leave the peels on when making applesauce, just remove the peeler attachment from the device. You can also take off the slicing blade if you want to peel apples without slicing. It can easily be stored in a pantry or closet when it's not needed, unlike other kitchen appliances that take up way more space than they're worth.

Perhaps best of all, you don't need to shell out $100 for a fancy version sold at a high-end home store, either. All of them operate in roughly the same way, so as long as you read reviews and confirm that it operates consistently, you can easily find great options that are under $50. The Johnny Apple Peeler is $31.99 on Amazon and has a 4.6-star rating with over 15,000 reviews. It's available with a suction- or clamp-mounted base depending on your preferences.