TOOLS OF THE TRADE TUESDAY

I guess I am showcasing the "tool" after the project so please forgive me.  I have had this little gadget for over 20 years and after I am finished with it, I wash it well and put it away in the box because it is not something you use all the time but when you need it, it is a REAL time saver.  I would not even think about making the Sky-High Apple Pie without this gadget.  The price was still on the bottom - $6.99 and worth every penny.  It uses a razor blade to do the cutting and has safety caps for the razors. 

On the bottom are suction feet so it is very stable and in very short order you have peeled the 6.5 pounds necessary for the Sky-High Pie or any other recipe that requires that you peel apples, pears or small potatoes.

After you peel the apples this kitchen gadget is great to core them and then they are ready to slice for your apple project.

I lived for years in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and there was an old apple orchard near us with elderly folks who came out in the fall to sell the apples. Their family would come up and help them pick the apples and put them in buckets.  They were all different sizes nothing you would see in the store but they were the best apples.  The owner told me that one of the varieties did not have to be peeled to make pies as the peel on this particular apple would cook soft and she was right and the pie was pink and so good and all you had to do was wash, core and slice.

Both of these gadgets are wonderful when you are making apple butter too.  A little port wine in the apple butter is a pretty tasty addition.

Resources:

Here is the Amazon link for the corer/slicer: OXO Good Grips Apple Corer and Divider

Seems as though my exact apple peeler is no longer made by Progressive, the ones that I saw by them clamped onto the counter - not something I would want to do to my granite counter. I did some further looking and found the following:

Trademark makes one very similar to the one I have and I found it at the following places:
 
Walmart online, $11.16 but unless it was in your local store there would be shipping
Ebay, $12.99, free shipping
Amazon, $19.54 + shipping, here is a link: Here is a link to the one on Amazon:Apple Peeler - Peals in Seconds (82-AP24) -