Anyone have a recommendation for a really good apple corer/slicer/peeler? I dehydrate hundreds of lbs of apples each year.
I’ve gone through quite a few of those hand cranked models that suction to the countertop. They seem to wear out after one season. I wouldn’t mind paying a bit more for something that would last.
Has anyone found a good one?
yup but it’s kinda expensive! . We use a KitchenAid Corer/peel/slicer and put it on our KitchenAid mixer.
EDIT: I forgot to add that although it works great, this is the first year that we have used it so I don’t know how long it will last.
I have an old one bought on yard sale. It worked as magic. Eventually the blade got dull and I decided to buy a new one. I tried two, second one was actually exactly the same looking as my old one with same brand name. But it was new. It didn’t work. I ended up taking sharp blade from it and replacing the dull one. It is good as new now!. I am saying it because even if you get recommendation from somebody who have some brand for years and love it, the one you buy will most likely be different and usually not to the right direction.
Most of the inexpensive contemporary ones seem to be cheaply made and don’t hold up well for me. Some of the antique versions of these - such as the clamp-on White Mountain peeler - are made of tougher stuff, and can sometimes be found on eBay. They’re not bad for light use.
I haven’t tried the KitchenAid option, as I don’t have the required mixer. The only other modern peeler that I’ve tried and found worthy of recommendation is this one, though it’s quite expensive as well. Amazon has it here. If you process a lot of apples, it’s arguably worth it.
I’d like to know how fast the Kitchen Aid attachment is. Is it quick to position the apple? How fast does it do the coring/slicing? Thanks!
That is hard for me to answer. It’s easy to stick the apple on the peg. Pull the cutter close to the apple and turn on.
The KitchenAid is variable speed so it will actually do the coring/slicing faster than you want to.
My wife and I cut them slow because we want them to be one long spiral and not break. If you turn it up it would break them in pieces.
I can do them faster than I can with the traditional hand cranks of which we have a couple.
There are youtube videos that are pretty good.
I really like my antique Reading peeler. It does not slice and core, but it goes lightning fast and I then use a standalone core cutter and a knife to make slices. I feel the modern spiral ones make too thin a slice for my ideal pie. Lehmans sells a newly produced Reading type peeler, but it is not cheap:
I got mine on ebay for about $30. It needed some cleaning, the blade sharpened, and some tuning up. I ought to take the rivet out of the main wheel joint and reattach it with a shoulder bolt since it wobbles a lot. But if you have a little practice it is very usable and quick. There is a picture of mine in this post:
Go on you tube and watch video peeling apples using a drill, spade bit and a y shaped potato peeler. Peels apples extremely fast. We peel a lot of apples every fall to make apple butter.
