Peeler
Encyclopedia
Peel (fruit)
Peel, also known as rind or skin, is the outer protective layer of a fruit or vegetable which could be peeled off. The rind is usually the botanical exocarp, but the term exocarp does also include the hard cases of nuts, which are not named peels since they are not peeled off by hand or peeler, but...
thus peeling certain vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s, frequently potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es, and fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s such as apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
s, pear
Pear
The pear is any of several tree species of genus Pyrus and also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued by humans for their edible fruit, but the fruit of other species is small, hard, and astringent....
s, et cetera.
There are three main varieties, the Lancashire design involving the blade as an extension of a handle, in much the same way as the blade is attached to a knife
Knife
A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...
. A right hander typically holds the potato in his left hand
Hand
A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered extremity located at the end of an arm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs...
and holding the peeler in the finger
Finger
A finger is a limb of the human body and a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of humans and other primates....
s of the right hand and the top of the potato with the thumb
Thumb
The thumb is the first digit of the hand. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position , the thumb is the lateral-most digit...
of the right hand. The action then involves using the fingers of the right hand to pull the peeler's blade over the skin of the potato, turning it slightly so that it digs in and removes the potato skin, in a movement towards the right thumb. This also uses the grip of the right thumb to allow the movement of the fingers of the right hand to be based on the contraction of the right hand in a claw movement which is easier to accomplish than if the movement of the right fingers were to be controlled by the right arm
Arm
In human anatomy, the arm is the part of the upper limb between the shoulder and the elbow joints. In other animals, the term arm can also be used for analogous structures, such as one of the paired forelimbs of a four-legged animal or the arms of cephalopods...
or wrist
Wrist
In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as 1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand;...
.
Note: left-handed
Left-handed
Left-handedness is the preference for the left hand over the right for everyday activities such as writing. In ancient times it was seen as a sign of the devil, and was abhorred in many cultures...
people usually transpose the hands in the above explanation.
The second variety more closely resembles a safety razor
Safety razor
A safety razor is a razor that protects the skin from all but the very edge of the blade. These razors reduce the possibility of serious injury, which makes them more forgiving than a straight razor.-Cartridges introduced:...
(sometimes it is called a Y-peeler (due to its shape), Rex peeler, yoke peeler, or speed peeler), with the blade perpendicular to the handle, is used with a similar action to a razor, shaving off skin in strips parallel to the handle. Most speed peelers have an 'eye gouger' beside the blade, a loop of metal used to dig out eyes and blemishes from the potato.
The third variety has no official name, but is used extensively in Australia, where the design originated. It was designed in about 1947 by a company called Dalsonware in Melbourne who call it the "Dalson Classic Aussie Peeler". It consists of a plastic handle which extends upwards to support both the base and tip of a partially rotating blade. This type of peeler is also typical of a general fruit and vegetable peeler in Canada.
For safety reasons, when being used to peel an item held in the hands, the blade should be kept still, and the item pushed against it. If a potato is grasped in the left hand and the peeler in the right, the thumb of the right hand is used to push the potato backwards against the blade. When used on a chopping board (when peeling carrots, for instance), it should be drawn parallel to the body, away from the limb supporting the item. Holding the peeler in the right hand, the carrot is supported against the board with the left hand, and the peeler is drawn from left to right. A speed peeler must never be held such that the handle is facing away from the user, because peeling with such a posture is awkward, and may cause the peeler to slip. A speed peeler must also never be 'pushed', but always drawn such that the blade follows the handle, otherwise the peeler may slip if the blade catches. In all cases, the fingers holding the peeler should be kept as far back from the blade as possible.
Industrial peelers
In an industrial setting, potatoes may be peeled using steam jets to loosen the surface skin, followed by a dry abrasion peeler, and brushes and water sprays. The process may also involve treatment with lyeLye
Lye is a corrosive alkaline substance, commonly sodium hydroxide or historically potassium hydroxide . Previously, lye was among the many different alkalis leached from hardwood ashes...
to soften the outer skin. One type of mechanical peeler, the Magnascrubber, tumbles the potatoes on rollers with rubber studs, which removes the skin. Similar tumbling units with variously sized disc-shaped studs are used for peaches, tomatoes, beets and carrots.
The modern day electric motor
Electric motor
An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...
industrial potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
peelers were first created by a British company called IMC.