This Is the (Shockingly) Correct Way to Use a Potato Peeler
If you’re like me, then you can probably thank social media for teaching you more than you’d like to admit. While the internet (including me) is still picking its jaw up off of the floor from the recent revelation about Morton Table Salt’s not-so-secret lid feature, another “the more you know” moment is making its rounds on TikTok — and this time, it’s showing us the proper way to use a popular cooking utensil.
According to TikTok user @Jenniabs3, many of us have probably been using our potato peeler all wrong — and to be honest, I’m a little disappointed in myself for not knowing this one because the proper handling of this prep tool is seemingly self-explanatory.
As her video explains, the blade on a potato peeler swivels back and forth, but it’s not to help you navigate the lumps on the potato. It’s actually so you can peel the vegetable both backward and forward with each stroke of the peeler! If this is a mind-blowing discovery for you, don’t worry — you’re not alone. I was today years old when I found out, too.
In the video, the content creator — who specializes in delivering content around dinner recipes and kitchen tools — goes on to demonstrate the wrong way of using a potato peeler: slicing only in a forward motion, letting the skin peel and fall forward, away from the body (the way I had been using it for my entire life). But the correct way to use a potato peeler — or any vegetable peeler, for that matter — is to hold the peeler against the potato, slicing back and forth while never lifting the blade. Simple. Why did I never think of doing this myself? I don’t know. Will I try this on my next potato? Definitely.
And if anyone else is feeling like their peeler could use an upgrade after seeing how sharp and shiny it’s supposed to be from the TikTok video, I’ve got my eyes on a $10 self-sharpening find that doubles down on ease and convenience.
It would honestly be nice if some of these kitchen gadgets came with instructions, because if it weren’t for social media, I don’t believe I’d be using any kitchen gadget how they were truly intended. Until that day comes, though, I will continue to scroll with amazement at just how wrong I’ve been using these items all along.
This post originally appeared on The Kitchn. See it there: Everyone Just Discovered the Correct Way to Use a Potato Peeler, and People Are Speechless