I've had this Zyliss for the past 7 or 8 years. I use it on carrots, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash. Still sharp.

Zyliss peeler

Hah! I'm constantly on a quest for a good peeler! The ones I buy generally have the peel stay on the carrot, under the blade. Or the blade clogs. I recently bought a Y-shaped one. I've never used one before, so I'll see how it works.

I was so mad, I bought one at BBB for $6 (I've been to that store twice, and walked out.....I find it very over-priced). So I was REALLY mad when I saw the exact same peeler at our regular discount grocery store for $2!!!

IMHO the best one out there is the Piranha by Kuhn Rikon. This is not the 'Y' shaped peeler. Hoo, it's sharp. Lists for around $7.99. Might look at different sources for the best price, or find a place that doesn't charge much for shipping... Very 'aggressive' in that the blade engages the peel very quickly.

Buy one with ceramic blade. Breakable but keeps sharp forever.

dcarch

OXO - Mine came with 2 replacement blades. I don't use mine a ton so I'm still on the first, but I gave my mom an older version YEARS ago and she uses it regularly and it's still sharp.

I am not one for spending big bucks on a peeler. I have a couple of OXO and one from the Dollar Tree, Betty Crocker. It works just as well and I have peeled my share of veggies and fruits over the past 80 years. I probably still have some of the first ones I had somewhere, the little thin handled ones.Of course I peel with them, I don't whittle, :)

Sue

I have a couple of the oxo brand peelers and a couple of the is it called ecko. I've had them so long I have forgotten but I usually use a paring knife for peeling potatoes. Yes i waste alot of the potato but its just the two of us. Works the best for me.

Why the need for more than one peeler? I had an Ecko for years until it started to rust. Replaced with the stainless Zyliss.

Don't you ever have prep help in the kitchen?

I've had this one for - EVER!

I have two OXO peelers, one serrated and one not. The serrated peeler is great for things like peaches or tomatoes but seldom gets used otherwise. The straight bladed one gets used for everything except potatoes. For some reason, I always peel potatoes with a paring knife, I find a peeler unwieldy for them. Anyway, the OXO is sharp enough that it takes on butternut squash without flinching, and I've had it a couple of years and it's still sharp.

Annie

Someone here or somewhere recommended to me a Swiss Star peeler. It's Y shaped. I have not had it long enough to see if it will last.

I have help sometimes in the kitchen and one job could be when you have to peel a lot of apples. This year the trees are loaded. Will be busy with that soon. I never peel my sweet potatoes with peeler or knife. I wash my sweet potatoes, put them in a pot of water, cover, bring to a boil and cook 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat and dump in cold water and the peelings come right off with a bit of help. I don't know if this way of getting the peelings off would work for you but it does for me.Cooking time depends on the size of the sweet potatoes.

Sue

Sue, since you peel a lot of apples you might find this helpful. With the BB&B 20% discount it's a good deal.

apple peeler

I typically roast sweet potatoes, so I peel first.

Cindy Mac I bought one of those a couple of years ago for two dollars and this spring I paid a dollar and bought a second one. We will sure be using those if they get the apples picked.

Sue

Sue, that's quite a deal!

So, what do you do with all those apples? I'm anxiously awaiting the first Macs and Cortlands here.

A couple of years ago we canned it all up into apple sauce. Last year there were no apples. My husband eats apple sauce two and three times a day as it is easy for him to swallow. He had his second stroke this past December.

Sue

Sue, I hope you have a bumper crop of apples this year!

I also have a couple of those apple peeler/slicer gadgets, and use them for apple pie, canning apple pie filling and I've found that if I use it for apple butter, put the slices in the crockpot with the spices, they cook down nicely. The grandkids keep "borrowing" them, though, and then I need another one, LOL. If it gets them to eat the apples, it's all good.

Annie

Annie, I too have made crock pot apple butter and it is pretty easy to make that way. I hope I don't give out before the apples do this year! :) I need to round up all of my canning stuff and get ready so when the kids bring the apples I will know where everything is. I don't know the variety of apples the kids have but I know they have at least two kinds. The one makes a very lovely pink applesauce.

Sue

Sue, I cook apples with the skin to get a pink sauce.

I'm glad your husband can still enjoy the taste of food. My mom lost the ability to swallow after her stroke.

The apples have been arriving this morning. I have two big apple boxes full and they will pick more of them later. :)The apple boxes say they hold 12 three pound bags. So I must have at least 36 pounds in each box.

Sue

LOL, Sue, get to canning and stop fooling around here. (grin)

I've also made applesauce with the peels on, just simmer the halved apples and run them through the Squeezo, then can and I can crank out large amounts of apples if I have a big enough stock pot for simmering. But if I want to just do a crockpot full of apples for apple butter I don't want to drag out the big Squeezo and all the other stuff, so I just peel and slice, stick them in the crockpot and walk away. Then I only have to clean up the peeler/slicer.

I'm still waiting, my apples aren't quite ready. I have three Red Delicious trees, one Wolf River tree, one that I think is a Gala and there's a tree up by the pond here on the new place, that may be a crabapple. I also have a hand cranked cider press, so at the end of the season when I've canned everything else I want, the remainder go into the cider press. The kids think it's great fun to turn the crank and get cider, and the cows and horses like the pulp, although if I were very frugal I'd save those bushels of pulp and make jelly. With all the apples this year, I don't see that happening, I'll be converting that pulp to beef, it's like recycling!

Anyway, back to the original topic before it got hijacked. :-) Those OXO peelers are also good for Zucchini when I make zucchini candy, they actually get a lot of use and work well, even after 4 or 5 years. Elery did have one of those Kyocera ceramic Y-shaped peelers and it broke after a year or so of light use, so I wasn't impressed.

Annie

Like stolenidentity, I have a couple of those old-school (Ekco?) peelers & they still work just fine after decades of use.

I also have made applesauce w/o peeling - using a food mill to strain out the peels is pretty quick.

I have several, mostly because I was looking for one that would stay sharp, and just have not thrown out the others. My absolute favorite was a gift from my aunt one Christmas. It is from Cutco. It is probably 10 years old at least, and still sharp. If you need crab apples, come see me. I have never seen this tree loaded like this! It still has most of the leaves on it, too. Usually, it leafs out, and in a month or two, the leaves dry up and fall off. We have lived here since 1991. I have no idea what to do with them, or if I even like the flavor of them. I sure don't need any jelly, either. So come on over and pick some!

OXO

Tami, I got a nice jar of crabapple jelly from LindaC once, it was delicious and a lovely pink color, they'd make nice gifts. I also remember Grandma making me run a darning needle through the crabapples, from stem to bottom, so she could make spiced crabapples, much like those cinnamon apple rings, but whole crabapples.

And no peeling!

Annie

Look up Rada vegetable peeler on Amazon.com. I've used this peeler several times a day for over ten years. It is made in USA and not very expensive (under $10, plus shipping if applicable).

i just added the Rada peeler to my Amazon cart. Thank you everyone! Love this board.

Great suggestions here for peelers (I use OXO), but the best advice I'd give anyone is that they get dull.

Replace them.

Life's too short ;-)

Oh, and have 2-3 of them on hand so you wind up rotating them.

I added that one, too, compumom. Thank you!

Since you have such a volume of apples to peel, how about one of those crank-type apple peelers?. They are about $20.

Thanks for the tip John Liu, I do have two of them. For the applesauce I just wash them and core them, then cut up and cook. They then go through the Kitchen Aid Fruit Strainer I think it is called.

Sue

I still use the Palm Peelerand Palm Brush that Compumom/Ellen gave us at a CF Get-Together.

Actually Cathy, I'm still using that one occasionally too!