Conference turris::cooks

    I first saw this great gadget on the Frugal Gourmet;
    We have one just like his, that cores and peels the apple.
    You attach it to the counter via suction cup, stick the apple
    on the spit and turn a crank.
    Comments:
    1/ older (mushier) apples or apples that deviate a lot from
       the spherical are harder to make work.
    2/ I found the one we had over priced. (about 32$ US)
    3/ the blade that does the paring is a loop (horseshoe shaped); 
       once that becomes dulled, its difficult to re-sharpen, making the 
       tool almost more work than hand-paring.
    
    Its a shame because when it does work, its really neat. (And fun
    for children to help work as well). 
    
    Monica

    My girlfriend has one and it's marvelous.  He son-in-law sharpened
    the blade so it really works well.  Only problem is with soft apples.
    The peel seems to bunch up around the blade more with soft apples.
    
    Saw one in Williams-Sonoma catalog that had a hood-like device over
    the blade so the peel won't clog the cutting edge.
    
    As long as you can keep the cutting blade sharp, the apple peeler/ 
    corer is a wonderful gadget.
    
    linda
         

    If you're interested in a left-handed hand peeler, Hencels sells
    one.  I bought one only because I prefer to peel going away from
    me (carrots, for instance), so the left-handed one is in the right
    direction.
    
    They're hard to find, though.  I bought mine in Colorado while on
    vacation.  I can dig up the store name if you're interested - they'd
    probably do mail order.
    
    --Sharon
    

    My wife is left-handed, and has been using a Henckels left-handed
    vegetable peeler for about 7 years.  It still works great.  And it's
    cheaper than one of those apple-peeler gadgets.  At least it was 7
    years ago.
    
    Steve

    Is this a similar gadget to the apple peeler? I am not
    sure what you are referring to here. 
    
    Monica

    One of my friends, who is a real apple fan, has one of these things. 
    As you turn the crank, it not only peels and cores the aple, but also
    slices it in a spiral.  This guy is extremely fond of apple crisp,
    which he makes a few times a week.  I wouldn't have much use for the
    device, but he loves it.  It works great on the round kinds of apples
    he prefers in his favorite dessert, like Cortlands.  I'm not sure how
    well it would do with a blockier sort of apple like a Macintosh.  I've
    got to admit it is fun to crank it and watch it do its thing.
    
    /Charlotte

Where can I get one of these Gadgets.  Can someone post a source.
I hate peeling apples.

Martin B. 

    The left-handed Henckels peeler that we're talking about is 
    simply a left-handed vegetable peeler.  You know, a "standard"
    carrot-type peeler, but meant for lefties.
    
    --Sharon
    
    

    What's a left-hnded vegetable peeler?  The usual sort has a blade
    facing both ways, though I expect mine are a lot sharper on the
    right-handed-person side since they get sharper with use; the other
    side is kind of rusty on most of them.
    
    /Charlotte

	One note about these apple peeler thingamabobs.  Someone gave
	one to me as a gift, because I make a fair number of apple pies
	during the holidays.  Very kind of them, but I don't use it.
	I like to slice the apples a little thicker, so that they won't
	turn to mush when they're cooked, and this thing doesn't allow
	you to adjust the thickness of the slices.  That's my only complaint
	about it.  Otherwise, it's the bee's knees.

	Di

    Lechmere has Henckels gadgets 20% off this week.  If you happen to get
    the Sunday paper, check out the sales circular.  There is a picture of
    several Henckels gadgets.  The left-handed peeler is in the center.

    The left-handed peeler differs from the "regular" peeler because it
    swivels.  It's a bit awkward to use at first but you get used to it
    pretty quickly.  Both their left-handed and "regular" peelers are
    superb.

    And the Henckel's peelers have only one cutting edge - thus the need
    for left- and right-handed versions.
    
    --Sharon
    

Thanks everybody !  Sounds like one of these gadgets may be 
worth the investment.  Thanks also to for the pointers to left 
handed peelers.  I have to admit the my interest in this
automatic peeler went beyond just being left handed, I'm also
pretty lazy !

re. a few back
	I saw one of the automatic peelers at Leichters in the 
Greendale Mall,Worcester.  Don't know whether most kitchen stores 
would carry them or not.


Thanks again,
	Denise

        I bought mine at Feen's Country Store in the K-Mart Plaza in
    Fitchburg.  I think is was around $29.  I have used it for 3 years now
    and I love it.  It's the kind that peels, cores, and cuts into a
    spiral.  It's great.  I did 2 bushels last fall.  I made apple crisp,
    apple pies, apple cake and anything else apple I could get my hands on.
    
        Although I haven't had to sharpen mine yet, I bet you could take it
    to a guy who does chain saws.  I would think he wouldn't have any
    trouble sharpening it.
    
    Enjoy!!
    
    

just this weekend, I saw a gadget that simply peels the skin off apples, 
potatoes, etc.  It is electric, and works so that you hold the veggie/fruit
being peeled on a fork with one hand, and move this hair-dryer shaped thing
with a clear plastic hood over the end over the "victim"...thereby, quickly
getting the skin off.  The hood rotates to have an opening on the correct
side for lefties or righties.  I want one.  I hate peeling apples but I
like thick apple slices and this baby will be just the ticket.  And the
potatos for mashed potatoes...hey, maybe I can serve mashed potatoes more
than once a year!  Maybe even three times a year!  The possibilities are
limitless...where's my charge card???!?


			8^} 

    Battelle Institute has invented a machine that can peel potatoes with lasers.
    From Feb 3 Time: "Using a $3 million combination of industrial-grade
    lasers, you can vaporize the skin right off the potatoes as they fly
    through a funnel at the rate of 1,800 a minute." It "works even better
    on tomatoes. ... Any commercial use of laser peeling is at least three
    to five years away."
    
    ed

�And the
�potatos for mashed potatoes...hey, maybe I can serve mashed potatoes more
�than once a year!  Maybe even three times a year!  
    
    Potatoes have to be peeled before mashing??

    
>>>>    Potatoes have to be peeled before mashing??

HA!  Barbarian!

			8^}

>>>>    Potatoes have to be peeled before mashing??
    
    Yuh, just like grapes.
    
    :-)

    re: the electric veggie/fruit peeler that looks something like a hair
    dryer...... they are fine for potatoes, but that's about it... I
    had/have one somewhere..... the kids used to use it and I would have
    peels all over the ceiling, floor, walls and every place but the sink.
    
    The kind that you can get at feens in Leominster are great, I have done
    french fries with it.  I love mine.
    
    Bon