I’m pretty much apple obsessed from September through November, but my penchant for apple picking (and spending way too much money at the farmers market) means I have to do a lot of apple peeling and coring every fall. Honestly? It’s a pain in the ass. But after trying out a few of these different methods for peeling and coring, you can discover which easy technique works best for you. I’m a melon baller gal when it comes to coring, and find that a paring knife will usually do the trick to peel apples for a small job. For everything else? I’ll try out the tips and tricks below.
1. Use a handheld apple corer
Buy a special handheld kitchen tool that cores apples. You push the corer into the center of the apple, then lift the corer to remove the seeds, stem, blossom end and tough fibers.
2. Use a knife
To core, cut your apple in half horizontally, then use a rounded-edge knife, like a butter knife, to cut around the core and pop it out of your apple half.
You can also cut around the apple by resting it on your cutting board stem side up. Use a knife to cut vertical slices of apple on four sides of the core, leaving you holding the vertical core of the apple.
To peel, use this method to peel an apple as quickly as possible using a regular paring knife:
Leave this crazy-fast knife work to the masters!
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3. Core with a melon baller
Use a metal melon baller to scoop out the core, starting at either the blossom or stem end of the apple. You can cut the apple vertically in half first for easier access to the core.
4. Spoon out the core
Cut your apple in half vertically, then use a knife to cut off the blossom and stem ends of your apple. Then, use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and any tough fibers lurking within each apple half.
5. Use an all-in-one device
If you cook with a lot of apples (or have an enormous kitchen with lots of storage space), consider the all-in-one apple peeler and corer. You stab the apple onto one end of the machine, then use a hand crank to spin the apple against a peeler blade. Some of these devices slice the apple too.
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6. Peel with a power drill
If you’re peeling and coring a huge amount of apples, you can use a power drill in conjunction with your all-in-one device to rapidly peel apples with no cranking. If you have apple trees on your property and process many pounds of apples each year, this could be a lifesaver for your wrists.
7. Ye olde vegetable peeler
Using a vegetable peeler on apples can be a little tricky because of their rounded shape. The key? Peel the apples vertically from stem to blossom rather than horizontally.
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