To Peel Or Not To Peel?

Always? Like "never" isn't that a word we're supposed to avoid in life? When talking about peeling it's certainly a tricky word to employ. The vast majority of fruits and vegetables have a peel or skin that is edible. The great exceptions are hard winter squashes (the amazingly sweet and tender delicata squash is the exception), citrus fruits (although those peels can be rendered edible through preserving, pickling, and marmalades), melons (again, pickling makes them edible), onions and garlic, and the majority of tropical fruits. Other than these, though peeling is more a question of taste and texture than edibility.

Plenty of vegetables that we commonly peel can be eaten with the peel on if you like. Eggplants and cucumbers, in particular, have skins that some people find difficult to digest. While they are traditionally peeled, they do not have to be if you don't have trouble with them.

Different fruits and vegetables require different peeling techniques. While you can take a peeler to carrots and potatoes, delicate fruits and vegetables like peaches and tomatoes are easier to peel if you put them in a boiling water bath for about 30 seconds first to loosen their skins.

• How to Peel Peaches
• How to Peel Tomatoes

Heavy-skinned fruits and vegetables like citrus, melons, and hard squashes are all peeled the same way: cut off enough of the ends to reveal the fruit or vegetables under the peel, set it flat, and cut down the sides with a sharp knife to remove the peel. Large melons and squashes may be easier to handle if you cut them in half to quarters first.

• How to Peel Melons
• How to Peel Citrus Fruits

Root vegetables are mostly pretty easy to peel with a decent, sharp peeler or paring knife. The papery skin on onions is easier removed if you cut the onion first (peeling under water helps reduce tears) and nothing slips off more quickly than the peel of a roasted beet.

• How to Peel Onions
• How to Roast & Peel Beets

Peeling can make some parts of fruits and vegetables we often throw away perfectly (and deliciously) edible, like the tough ends of asparagus or broccoli stems.

• How to Peel Asparagus Spear Ends
• How to Peel Broccoli Stems