This Bizarre Hack Peels An Apple In 3 Seconds

There are a lot of little things in cooking that used to be a tedious, boring chore. Mashing potatoes, squeezing lemons, chopping onions, peeling oranges, the list goes on. That was then, in the days where we used nothing but our hands and knives for chopping, tearing, peeling, and gutting our ingredients. The modern-day kitchen, on the other hand, is stocked with nifty gadgets that can make cooking a breeze for even the most inexperienced chef. There are also plenty of interesting if somewhat "quirky" tips from professional chefs, as well as full-fledged books (per America's Test Kitchen) to assist in making even the hardest recipe as easy as pie.

Take, for example, the humble apple. There's plenty to do with this crisp, juicy fruit, ranging from using it as a bird feeder to keeping bread soft or keeping other fruits ripe (via Spoon University). The most important thing you want to learn to do is to peel an apple quickly and painlessly. No one wants to spend all that time with a rinky-dink peeler, cutting your fingers instead of the apple. A hack exists that lets you peel that baby in under a few seconds, but it will require you to get hands-on. And by hands-on, we mean that you should break out the power tools and strap them in. 

According to Food52, the most useful tool in one's kitchen arsenal isn't made by Hamilton Beach or KitchenAid, rather it's the pure electric torque de force of the Craftsman drill. How does one go about peeling an apple with an electric drill? The first step in the process, Food52 explains, is to acquire a cordless drill with a flat drill bit and a very sharp peeler. Assemble the drill as one normally would, and then skewer the apple onto the drill bit. 

In the next step, they advise you to hold the apple over a sink or compost pile while placing the peeler against the skin. Start the drill at a slow to moderate speed, carefully dragging the peeler along the apple to remove the skin. Things will, of course, get messy so it's best to start slow until you get the hang of it. The entire process from start to finish should only be around a few seconds, compared to the tedious amount of time it would take to peel it by hand. It may splatter your kitchen with apple peelings, but if you get the hang of it you can peel the apple in one long string, just like a professional.

If you still want to do something with your apple peels, Martha Stewart offers a delicious recipe for crisp cinnamon apple peel twigs.