this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2023
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Like, I get comments from people telling me it's weird I always try to peel potatoes like I am trying to make the worlds longest 1-piece potato peel. To me it feels way for efficient and fun to continu down a potato in 1 peel, while circling around it, instead of randomly scraping a hundred different pieces of peel off and having to reintroduce the cutter knife to the potato for every piece.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The most effecient way is to NOT peel potatoes. Why would you ever want to peel them? Potato skin is yum and rich in nutrients, whereas the flesh is mostly carbs. By throwing away the skin, you're not only wasting nutrients, you're getting rid of the texture and fiber it adds.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Why would you ever want to peel them?

I used to eat the skins until my kidney stone went to the lab. No more skins or spinach for me. :-( Kidney stone pain is an amazingly-effective incentive for dietary change.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Bucket of water with potatoes and a drill with a toilet brush for a drill bit.

https://youtu.be/WaUoIS10dvA?si=I8U2LRj3Np0AvBPs

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Given that the skin has up to 12 times the nutrients of the entire potato it covers I personally stopped peeling my potatoes in most situations. It also adds a great crispy texture when you're roasting or frying. With that said, you do you when peeling. If it's cathartic to peel it all in one piece go for it. Or you can cut the potato in half and simply use a knife to trim the skin off like a sweet potato.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

That's not true. For a potato, about half the total fiber is found in the skin. No other nutrients are drastically reduced.

Source

[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Should be worth noting that the skin of potatoes contains toxins.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Not if you remove eyes, sprouts and green parts. What you want to avoid is green flesh. If you scratch under the skin and its green pitch it.

[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You should NOT do this with Potatoes. Their skin contains Solanine, which is a nightshade toxin.

Other veggies and fruits yes, but not potatoes. Other nightshades like Tomatoes and Pepper are way different.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Fresh or properly stored non "green" potatoes should be safe to eat with the skin, as the solanine content is usually below the threshold of 100mg per kg, as I understand it according to this Source. What I found interesting is that the Solanine apparently accumulates in frying oil (it starts breaking down at about 170ยฐC according to Wikipedia) which might be troublesome since some places swap frying oil infrequently.

[โ€“] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago

Worth mentioning that different types of potatoes have more and less pleasant skins to eat, so it depends

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

"most efficient" depends on what you're maximizing for

Speed?

Effort?

Potato wastage?

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I couldn't understand a thing - was that Canadian?

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Hey OP, I haven't read through the entire thread yet but I have a couple of suggestions. Fancy cocktails are a hobby of mine and a high quality peeler is essential for pulling thin, delicate strands of citrus zest for garnishes. The OXO Good Grips Y Peeler is a fairly popular one. With the added benefit of being able to replace the blades when they go dull. They also make a swivel peeler (the one in your picture) if you prefer that. My personal favorite is the Viski y peeler.

There's also channel knives, they're made to specifically cut continuous long, thin strips of citrus zest so you may find those pretty fun to use on your potatoes. With a little practice, you could probably peel an entire potato without stopping once. Like peelers you have a couple of options. The Triangle knives are good. You would use them in a similar way to Y-peelers. I'm not sure what the form factor for these are called but they're used in a similar way to the peeler in your picture.

Lastly, if you'd like a very quick (efficient) way of peeling them, you could always use an apple peeler. I can guarantee those will peel anything quicker than you could do by hand. And they're kinda fun to play with too

And a tip: pull the potato, not the peeler. Use your had with the peeler as leverage, but keep it still and use your hand with the potato to move it through the blade.