The Best Vegetable Peeler

Gone are the days when people had to spend hours prepping their fruits and vegetables with just the blade of a knife. Today, we can speed through this process with a vegetable peeler. If you don’t currently own a vegetable peeler, but you want to increase your fresh fruit and vegetable intake, you’ll want to start shopping around, so you can find the best peeler on the market.

Begin by looking for a vegetable peeler with a sharp stainless steel blade. Stainless steel is not only durable, but it also resists rust and won’t stain or retain any odors. Most peelers come with two tough scraping blades that swivel. This allows the blades to glide across the fruit with ease. Others utilize smooth glide technology to keep the blades from clogging.

Look at the vegetable peeler’s handle next. You’ll find they come in a wide variety of shapes, so you’ll want to look for the one that best suits your grip. The important thing is that the peeler is made using an ergonomic design, as this increases your comfort while you use the peeler and reduces wrist fatigue if you need to use the peeler for an extended period of time.

Check the functionality of the peeler. Some are made simply to peel the skin off of produce, while others have an attached blemish remover. This allows you to cut out potato eyes, as well as remove any rotten spots you come across when prepping the produce. There are even vegetable peelers on the market with interchangeable blades. One blade peels, one shreds and one juliennes, for example.

Also consider how the vegetable peeler is designed to be stored. There are peelers with built-in holes for hanging, as well as peelers that come with a plastic sheath to cover the blades while they are stored in a utensil drawer. If keeping the tool in your kitchen drawer is the only option, and your drawer is on the smaller side, look for a vegetable peeler that is compact.

• If the blades of your vegetable peeler become clogged at any point and you find that tapping them against a hard surface isn’t releasing the clog, you can use a toothpick to get between the blades to coax the food out.
• While some vegetable peelers are safe to toss in the dishwasher, others aren’t. You’ll want to clean those by hand using hot water, a little dish soap and a rag. If you have any trouble cleaning the blades with a rag, you can put a drop of dish soap on a toothbrush and use that instead.
• Vegetable peelers come in handy for a wide variety of tasks besides simply peeling the skin away from fruits and vegetables. They can slice cheeses and meats for a party tray, shave chocolate to top a delectable dessert and even sharpen your pencil if you don’t have a pencil sharpener on hand.
• If the blades on your vegetable peeler begin to become dull, it’s time to replace them. Dull blades slip easier and you don’t want to accidentally cut yourself.
• Fortunately, vegetable peelers are universally affordable and don’t vary much in price. You’ll find the Honsen Ultra Sharp Stainless Steel Vegetable Peeler, the OXO Good Grips Vegetable Peeler and the Spring Chef Premium Swivel Vegetable Peeler all sell for the same low price. You’ll pay a bit more for the KitchenAid Classic Euro Vegetable Peeler due to its high-quality construction and well-known brand name.