Why the heck doesn't somebody invent...

[The empressof all]

I just peeled and sliced a half a dozen large sweet onion. Boy...is it a pain in the ass to get onion skin off these things. They have all kinds of contraptions to get the peel off of garlic cloves but why hasn't somebody figured out a way to get the skin off of an onion?

Oh and BTW, never try to rip the peel off an onion with wet hands...

[Warpy]

1. Cut it in half crosswise

and the skin slips off rather easily, and then you can do onion rings, using the skin slipped over both root and stem ends as a handle. If you're chopping the onion, cut each piece in half again, pole to center. The skin slips off even easier. Leave the pole ends attached as convenient handles while you're chopping the rest of the onion.

[The empressof all]

3. Yes, you would think so

These were very fresh sweet onions. Normally, you are correct in your onion cutting method. It's the way I've been doing it for years. The Yellow onions have a peel that is far dryer and they are very easy to remove. I'm not sure if it was the sugar in the Mayan Sweets I'm using or not but those skins were just "glued" on. Even the top most skin was stubborn. I think it has to do with the freshness. When the onion ages it drys out an makes it easier to peel I guess. :shrug:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. See, I can peel onions all day

When I was younger, and life would close in on me, I'd get a five-pound bag of onions and just peel them. My roommates always found things to do with them, so it wasn't a waste of the onions, but I find nothing more comforting and therapeutic then to peel (yes, and slice -thinly) as many onions as needed.

[Tab]

4. I usually run a knife along the "equator"

down a layer or two, fully circumscribe it. Takes a second. Then each half just "peels" off.

[Tab]

5. What I'd really like, though

is something that could peel kiwi. I love kiwi fruit, but it's a bitch to peel.

[The empressof all]

6. I hear you on the kiwi...I have a trick

I have kiwi growing over a pergola in my yard. I'm usually over-dosing on them at the end of summer. I've given up using them in much of the cooking. I do make a great kiwi relish/salsa kind of thing but the peeling is a PITA

Here's what you do...

Cut the Kiwi in half and scoop it out like an avocado. I can't help you if you are looking for a complete kiwi "egg" but if you just want to eat it or make into salsa it works fine.

[Tab]

7. That I could do, but what I usually want are slices

for salads or whatnot.

[The empressof all]

8. I can usually scoop out a half an egg shape

Which you can still slice. It would be great if someone invented a Larger Grapefruit spoon type contraption for the kiwi. We'd at least get a cleaner half an egg

[sandnsea]

12. Really?

Do they like a temperate climate?

[grasswire]

15. I know someone in Salem who grows them.

He gives them away by the shopping bag full when in season.

[sandnsea]

18. A shopping bag of kiwi

I can't even imagine! We're going to have to give this a try.

[The empressof all]

16. I grow them in Seattle

I have them in a sunny spot. You need a male and female vine to polinate so I have one of each gender growing up opposite sides of the pergola. I just hard pruned them last year so I'm curious to see what kind of fruit I'll get this year.

[sandnsea]

17. My son loves kiwi

We used to get them 10 for $1.00 in MT. We moved here and I rarely find them 4/$1.00 and just wouldn't buy them. I am going to have to tell him he might be able to grow them. He will be so excited! Thank You!

[The empressof all]

19. My vines have given tons of fruit

Make sure you get your plants from a good nursery. I understand that it's a little hard to tell male from female vines so you need someone who knows what they are doing. You'll also need a very sturdy structure to grow them on. I'm not an expert by any means. I inherited the vines and Pergola when I bought the house 10 years ago. The vines finally got so heavy I needed to prune them to shore up the wood on the Pergola to keep them from collapsing the thing. Good luck in your kiwi adventure..It may take some time to get them established but they grow well up here.

[hippywife]

9. I just take the first layer of flesh

off with the peel. It's usually not useable for my purposes anyway since it's flimsy and soft. It also means I don't have to even think about the peel.

I watch the produce clerks in the grocery stand there and peel away most of the peel and throw it away. I personally wish they wouldn't do that since I think the onions last longer with more than one layer of the peel on them.

[susanna]

13. I've been taking off the first layer of flesh lately, too.

It has been flimsy and soft, and a danger with a sharp knife. It just won't cut properly. So I get down to the first crisp layer. On a few onions recently, I had to take off two layers of flesh to get to a cutting-friendly level. Not a happy thought for a frugal person, but I'd rather avoid stitches. I do save the unusable cutting layers for stocks (freeze them in a bag with chicken carcasses).

ETA: spelling correction

[Stinky The Clown]

10. The classic "french" method ....... or least the method I learned in school many lifetimes ago .....

I still use this method. Sparkly has adopted it as she finds it most effective, too.

Cut off a slice opposite the root end. Do **not** cut the last bit that connects the slice to the outer layer. What you want to do is make this cut, but **stop** just a bit earlier than depicted in this picture.



Now use that dangling slice as a sort of zipper and pull it down toward the root. You're trying to sort of "unzip" the skin and the outer layer of the onion down to the root. Once unzipped, just peel off the rest of the outer layer.

If the unzipping fails, or if you wind up cutting the top off and separating it from the onion, score through one layer of onion from the cut off top, down the side to the root. Use this to separate the first layer and to start to unpeel it from the rest of the onion.

This works with anything from old, dry onions to new, fresh, wet ones.
This video is close. It shows what I describe, but only after the unzipping fails. I estimate the unzipping (which is as much dependent on the onion as the person doing the cutting, fails about 1/4 of the time.

http://www.expertvillage.com/video/16533_onion-clean.htm

[susanna]

14. I learned the same thing in school, though recently. :-)

Unfortunately, the onions I've been getting lately require the scoring method you mention to get through the first layer.

Great information, and love the video! Thanks.

[yellerpup]

11. I give it a little roll on the cutting board and lean into it a little

the way you would if you were softening up a lemon to get more juice. Works most of the time for me. :hi: