The Sneaky Hack That Makes Peeling Carrots So Much Faster
Peeling carrots is an elemental cooking task. It's one of the first jobs delegated to kitchen neophytes looking to lend a hand. It's safe to assume that you already have a peeler. Afterall, they are an essential kitchen tool. But, there are a few different peeler designs. According to America's Test Kitchen, with "straight" peelers, you'll find the blade extending out from the handle, but a "Y" peeler will "look like wishbones, with a blade running perpendicular to the handle."
That difference ignites some serious hatred aimed at straight peelers. Yahoo! Life editors debated the difference and found a pretty even split between straight versus y-shaped peeler fans. You'll have to try out the two styles in order to find the best peeler for you. Having a peeler that suits your hand will make the task all the easier. And even if you think you'd like to switch peeler styles, there's no need to spend a lot of money on vegetable peeler.
Do carrots even need to be peeled?
According to Healthline, carrot peels are some of the many vegetable skins that are perfectly edible. In fact, they may even have a more concentrated dose of vitamins and nutrients than the innards. So, you can skip the peeling if you prefer. Just be sure to rinse and scrub away any dirt and debris.
That said, just because you don't have to peel a carrot doesn't mean you shouldn't peel a carrot. Cook's Illustrated took the time to pit peeled carrots against unpeeled carrots in a taste test. After being scrubbed clean, raw carrots still had a "dusty exterior" that some of the tasting panel couldn't get past. The differences were even more pronounced after roasting or glazing the carrots. In both cases, the skin of unpeeled carrots was noticeable. Even if you might appreciate some extra earthy flavor, the skin tended to shrivel and seem "gritty." Peeled carrots were uniformly colored and the carrot flavor was sweet and clean.
In the end, peelers are so ubiquitous in our kitchens for a reason. The time it takes to peel a carrot is worth it. And, a job worth doing is worth doing well. Plus, those peels are great homemade stock or broth fodder. So, they're food scraps you can actually eat.
Faster carrot peeling is all about using both blades
No matter which type of peeler you prefer, straight or Y, they both have two blades directly across from each other. Some assume those opposing cutting edges are meant to accommodate both right- and left-handed cooks. While that might be true, no matter which hand you're using, both blades should be used in order to peel efficiently.
Lay the carrot at an angle between your hand and the cutting board. However, after you peel down the carrot, don't pick up the peeler blade to reset for the next stroke. Just keep the blade on the carrot and run it right back up to where you started while slowly rotating the carrot with your other hand. That sounds complicated. Thankfully, YouTube user Irvin has a video that demonstrates just how easy this hack is to pull off.
After that, just trim the ends and get going with your slicing, grating, or whatever you need. From now on, there's no reason to balk at peeling a board full of carrots for some carrot cake and cream cheese frosting.