Peel

To peel means to take the outer skin or rind off a fruit or vegetable. The right method depends on how thick and how tight the skin is. Thin skins come off with a vegetable peeler, and thick rinds need a knife. Tight, thin skins on tomatoes and peaches slip off after a short blanch.

How to do it

• Peeler: for carrots, potatoes, apples, cucumbers and parsnips. Hold the vegetable in one hand and pull the peeler toward you or away from you in long strokes. Turn the vegetable as you go.
• Knife: for thick skins such as squash, celery root, pineapple and melon. Cut off both ends so it stands flat, then cut down the sides following the curve. A paring knife works for small fruit like kiwi and citrus.
• Blanching: for tomatoes, peaches and pearl onions. Score an X in the base, blanch in boiling water for 15 to 30 seconds for ripe tomatoes, a little longer for peaches, cool in ice water, then pull the skin off. This is the first step of a tomato concassé.
• Garlic: crush the clove lightly with the flat of a knife and the skin cracks open.
• Ginger: scrape the skin off with the edge of a spoon. It follows the bumps and wastes little.

Common mistakes

• Peeling when you do not need to. Young carrots, new potatoes and cucumbers are fine with a good scrub, and the skin adds texture.
• Cutting too deep with a knife and losing a lot of flesh.
• Peeling potatoes, apples or pears long before cooking. They turn brown. Keep potatoes in cold water and toss fruit in lemon juice.
• Pulling the peeler in fast, hard strokes toward your hand. Work slowly and keep your fingers clear.

In recipes

"Peeled" means the skin or rind is off. "Peel" as a noun is the outer layer of citrus, as in "candied orange peel". The colored outer part alone is called zest. Taking the skin off fish, chicken or nuts is usually called skinning.