The Tool That Makes Peeling Everything From Tomatoes To Garlic A Breeze

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Peeling garlic cloves is nobody's idea of fun. If you've done it, you know just how mind-numbingly tedious it can be (as the appropriate amount of garlic for any given recipe is: as much as possible). Plus, it takes forever to get the smell out from underneath your nails. You've tried all of the tips and tricks for the easiest way to peel garlic, and even the trusty crushing trick leaves behind those stubborn bits of skin that refuse to budge. You're then left with sticky, garlicky fingers all because you spent an additional two to three minutes wrestling with cloves — time you could've spent on literally anything else.

Now imagine tossing those cloves into a little machine, pressing a button, and watching the skins practically jump off on their own. Can you picture it? Good, because it's real. There's a true delight in these peelers; this kind of tool tempts you to scour the fridge for anything remotely peelable, just for the pleasure of it. Better still, it's available online via retailers like Amazon.

That's the fun of the new rechargeable peelers that have been popping up online, and they don't stop at garlic. People are using them for tomatoes, grapes, and other slippery produce that usually takes patience (and sometimes a paring knife) to handle. It could quite possibly be the best way to peel those finicky mangoes, and no more boiling water to peel your peaches. It feels more like a fun magic trick than a kitchen chore, so if you're a chef or just someone who likes to cook, you'll appreciate its utility. 

Where this machine really earns its keep is in recipes where peeling is more essential than optional. Think about a silky tomato sauce where stray bits of skin ruin the texture (and the skin imparts a distinctly bitter quality), or desserts like grape tarts and cherry compotes where presentation matters. Normally, you'd be blanching, scoring, or painstakingly peeling each piece of produce by hand.

Of course, this isn't the only way to deal with tricky, thin-skinned produce. Plenty of home cooks swear by smaller gadgets like handheld grape peelers, which work in different ways, such as by inserting the wire into the grape and twisting it. One quick motion, and you pull out a perfectly peeled grape. They're simple, inexpensive, and ideal if you only need a handful of peeled fruit at a time. Others go the no-gadget route and use spoons, pressing the edge just under the skin to lift it away. It takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, it's effective enough to get the job done.

The rechargeable peeler sits somewhere in between; faster and less tedious than manual methods, but bulkier and not necessarily perfect, as I'd wonder whether it only works in smaller batches or whether softer fruit is prone to bruising due to the force and speed of the machine. Overall, people love the consistency and the time it saves when prepping tomatoes for sauce or cherries for baking. The takeaway is that it's not really about the "best" way to peel everything, but about finding what fits your kitchen habits.