We use one and we have very imperfect apples, too. But, hey, it's much better than nothing!

Our apple peeler has an option of using the suction (which we use on our home kitchen's Corian countertop) or the clamp (which we use on the canning kitchen's old work table). I've used it both ways. As my aunt used to say, "It makes me no nevermind." Just depends upon where I am when I'm peeling apples.

I also keep all of the apple peelings, combine them with some water and lemon juice and cook them down right away. Then I pour all of that through a jelly cloth (actually, I use cheesecloth spread over our colander) and eventually cook up what I call "Apple Peelings Jelly" If I just smoosh the cooked peelings through the colander I get some pulp, too. That's fine with me for our use, and I call that "Apple Peelings Jammy Jelly" because it's not perfectly clear -- more jammy looking. I add a bit of spice to this Jelly, and the family enjoys it.

Anyhow, good luck. It's kinda fun to use.

Kathy in Washington

They are really nice. I like mine with the suction cup better than the one that clamped on. So easy to set up and use.
Makes drying apples so much faster !

Kathy and LindaLou thanks for responding : )
Is one brand better than another? My daughter read that they also core and peel??

I just made 12 qts of applesauce using mine. It can do a couple of apples a minute when you really get going. Absolutely worth getting for anyone working with apples.

If you only want to peel the apples, you can remove the corer/slicer blade.

It works on imperfect apples, those with lesions from scab or stings, but less well on lumpy or assymetrical ones. I use a different method for those.

There are several models and designs out there, linked is the one we use. We actually have two of them, and with a crew of 3 people - two running the peelers one one doing 'gofer', it takes less than 1/2 an hour to peel, slice, and core a bushel of apples.

If your apples are very wormy, then these things aren't so great.

Here is a link that might be useful: link

David, I note that the description of that model at Amazon claims it will do pears. This is not my experience with these machines. Have you tried using yours on pears?

I like mine. For lopsided fruit, just slow down and don't spin the crank as fast.

Mine doesn't work well on soft fruit. The prongs will cut a piece out of the core and not hold the fruit. So it's hard to imagine it working on soft ripe pears. The peeler wouldn't have any problems with the pear shape, though.

If you have dry weather, one trick is to take the long spirals of apple, put a string through the middle and hang them up to dry. You get a long coil of dried apple that kids seem to really enjoy.

I also like the Norpro since there is another brand that has the blade that swivels. The one I had that swiveled didn't work. I got rid of it. I look for that rounded horseshoe looking blade. That is what it shows on the Norpro.
I have just the suction on mine, but that is what I need for my Corian anyway.I find them at good will at times for $4.
Bed, Bath and Beyond had a suction cup one and if you have a coupon you should be able to get a good deal there, too.
I love Amazon with the free shipping, though !

I can never get the suction base to stick well enough, I prefer the clamp. Fortunately mine came with both.

It will do under-ripe pears. So, not much use, unless there's a way to ripen pealed pears that I don't know about.

Whoo hoo I got the "Perfect Kitchen Apple Peeler" from Bed Bath & Beyond today. It does the deed nicely, peels/cores/slices. What a time saver!

Thanks to everyone that responded : )

I'm too late, but I also use one of those, with the suction cup bottom. Elery and I managed to peel/core/slice a half bushel of MacIntosh in about 20 minutes so that I could dry them.

I also did a roaster full of apple butter, just dumped the peeled/cored/sliced apples into a big electric roaster, dumped in a couple of cups of apple cider and turned it on 350. I stirred down a couple of times so the apples on the top could cook down into the liquid. A buzz with the hand held blender and it was ready to add sugar and spices, then a few more hours on 350 and it was ready to can.

Worked like a charm, I was happy.

Annie

Please tell me why the three "spikes" on all those different (but the same) peelers are not stainless steel? It is very obvious when doing several bushels of apples or pears or peaches that the centers where these spikes hit cause a chemical reaction to the acidity (probably because they are aluminum!) and so leave brown spots in the core? Is it just me? Or, should we begin a revolution?

Nancy

I doubt they are aluminum as it is too weak. They are most likely steel. Try the magnet test. If they are steel the magnet will stick.

The brown spots are probably due to the cells being damaged by the prongs.

Zeuspaul

Quick note here on the peeler.

I like my apple pie and crisp to have nice big chunks of apple and I find that to get the chunks I want, I have to hand cut the apples.

The peeler slices them too thin.

Cutting enough for a pie isn't much work, and I still use the peeler often, because it cuts the perfect size for drying. Also, I put apples into my dog food, and the peeler makes short work of that job and the thin slices work the best for that purpose.

Oregon, you can still use the peeler for your pies if you remove the slicer blade.

I, too have a "thing" for sliced apples in pies, I like chunks.
My apple peeler you can remove the slicer blade as mentioned above, it also leaves the core. So I take off the peeled apple and use a core/sectioner then cut in chunks.
Alot faster because I make pies bake them off, freeze for later use.

I love it. It makes things so much faster. I also like to make curly cue potatoes with it. You end up with a core of potato, but I just cut them into slices and fry up too.

Some apples work better than others, but I will always give it a try if I am cutting up apples. When you get on a roll, it takes longer to reset it than it takes to peel, core and slice one.

Jay

So I take off the peeled apple and use a core/sectioner then cut in chunks.

How flippin' easy! I have one of those things and never thought to use it WITH the apple peeler. DUH!!

I have the hand cranked peeler, and when I want to do things in chunks I put the corer/slicer blade down....but then I hand cut them. Sometimes the simplest things escape me.

Thanks Lizzy for the idea.

Val