Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Product Review: Pampered Chef Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer
UPDATE: We got some additional testing in, so read this review update before putting down your money.
My wife had attended a Pampered Chef party and picked up an old-styled gizmo that is supposed to peel, core, and slice apples. We had long talked about getting something like this during production mode apple pie preparation while trying to finish the rest of a holiday dinner, when anything that promised time savings would have been welcome.
The product works pretty well. First, you clamp the unit onto a table or an accessory stand that you can purchase separately. Press a lever to release a long threaded shaft with a handle on one end and three tines on the other. Pull that back, push the stem end of an apple onto the tines, then start turning. A spring-loaded blade unit presses down and removes peel in a long strip. As the apple continues its journey into certain destruction, a circular blade opposite the crank handle slices it into a spiral while removing the core.
It’s slick to watch and at the end you have a naked apple that you stretch out like an impaired Slinky. One cut down the side turns the once-whole fruit into slices. We had peel left opposite the stem end, but on reflection (and a more careful reading of the instructions) I erred in pushing the apple up against the slicer before turning the crank. If you push the apple on and immediately turn, both ends will pass under the peeler. You’ll still have a bit of peel at the top and bottom, but it’s a small amount of waste. I also thought that the peeler was taking off a lot of pulp, but my wife looked at it and immediately disagreed. I bow to her superior correctness. And if she did come to my point of view, we could adjust the peeler blade to shave less..
At $28.50 for the peeler/corer/slicer and another $13.50 for the optional stand, the total seemed a bit pricey at $28.50, so I checked the Web. It seems that expensive peelers run into the hundreds. I don’t know what the difference is and not sure I want to learn. More comparably-priced units often have a vacuum clamp at the bottom: place it on a table, flip the lever, and it holds to the surface. I remember in the past using such bases and found that while they did work, they could be finicky and it was possible to unintentionally break the vacuum seal, particularly as the unit got older and the rubber base sitting on the table aged. If you’re handy with wood and have scraps around, you could fashion a stand like that from The Pampered Chef easily; it’s just three pieces of wood held together with counter-sunk screws.
Oh, and for the best part: on our test apple, the entire thing was peeled, cored, and sliced in about 15 seconds. When you’re preparing for company and need to get the pies or cobbler or whatever into the oven, this amount of money will be the last thing on your mind.
My wife had attended a Pampered Chef party and picked up an old-styled gizmo that is supposed to peel, core, and slice apples. We had long talked about getting something like this during production mode apple pie preparation while trying to finish the rest of a holiday dinner, when anything that promised time savings would have been welcome.
The product works pretty well. First, you clamp the unit onto a table or an accessory stand that you can purchase separately. Press a lever to release a long threaded shaft with a handle on one end and three tines on the other. Pull that back, push the stem end of an apple onto the tines, then start turning. A spring-loaded blade unit presses down and removes peel in a long strip. As the apple continues its journey into certain destruction, a circular blade opposite the crank handle slices it into a spiral while removing the core.
It’s slick to watch and at the end you have a naked apple that you stretch out like an impaired Slinky. One cut down the side turns the once-whole fruit into slices. We had peel left opposite the stem end, but on reflection (and a more careful reading of the instructions) I erred in pushing the apple up against the slicer before turning the crank. If you push the apple on and immediately turn, both ends will pass under the peeler. You’ll still have a bit of peel at the top and bottom, but it’s a small amount of waste. I also thought that the peeler was taking off a lot of pulp, but my wife looked at it and immediately disagreed. I bow to her superior correctness. And if she did come to my point of view, we could adjust the peeler blade to shave less..
At $28.50 for the peeler/corer/slicer and another $13.50 for the optional stand, the total seemed a bit pricey at $28.50, so I checked the Web. It seems that expensive peelers run into the hundreds. I don’t know what the difference is and not sure I want to learn. More comparably-priced units often have a vacuum clamp at the bottom: place it on a table, flip the lever, and it holds to the surface. I remember in the past using such bases and found that while they did work, they could be finicky and it was possible to unintentionally break the vacuum seal, particularly as the unit got older and the rubber base sitting on the table aged. If you’re handy with wood and have scraps around, you could fashion a stand like that from The Pampered Chef easily; it’s just three pieces of wood held together with counter-sunk screws.
Oh, and for the best part: on our test apple, the entire thing was peeled, cored, and sliced in about 15 seconds. When you’re preparing for company and need to get the pies or cobbler or whatever into the oven, this amount of money will be the last thing on your mind.
