Sunday, February 10, 2013

The Art of Peeling a Potato

Okay, I know you are laughing now.  Many of you have never peeled a potato, or watched one being peeled.  You might want to know what brought this topic to mind, and my answer is I was peeling potatoes for dinner.  The older members of my family (deceased now) had peeling a potato down to a fine art.

You may be asking yourself what in the heck does she mean.  There was no waste.  My grandmother, mom and aunt slid the knife just under the skin of the potato and went all around one time without breaking the peeling.  Then they dug out the potato eye by sticking the point of the knife into the eye (a piece of the skin  deeper than the rest of the skin for those of you who don’t know) and digging it out instead of peeling deeper to get it out.  Like I said, there was no waste.

This was a time period when people grew their own potatoes and people didn’t have much.  These days, we live in a throwaway world so saving as much of the potato as you can is considered a waste of time because most of us can’t do it fast like our older family members did.  I know I can’t, but once in awhile I try to do one peel around.  Sometimes, I manage to do it, but it’s slow. 

I really wish I could be fast and do one peel around the potato.  I often wonder how my grandmother made it look so easy.  She came from a farming family, so I know she was taught how to peel a potato, and she must have gotten lots of practice.  Wink!

I hope you enjoyed my blog today.  Have a wonderful week and come back next Sunday. 

Sandra K. Marshall
http://www.eirelander-publishing.com

 

8 comments:

Melissa Keir said...

I remember my grandmother and mom peeling potatoes. They both were so good at it. Today we don't even get the carrots that aren't unpeeled. What a time saver but what a lost art!

K.T. Bishop said...

I never thought I'd see you talk about potatos on this post!

Sandy said...

Lol, Melissa, you're so right about it being a time safer. Once in a while I do peel carrots.

K.T., I'll talk about anything. lol

Linda LaRoque said...

I think our grandmothers had the perfect paring knife too. It had been sharpened so many times the blade was thin. I agree about the waste. They knew how to be frugal with everything, especially food.

Sandy said...

Yes, Linda, they sharpened their knives. These days people throw them away and get new when they get too dull.

Janice Seagraves said...

My aunt Lolla May, who was more guy than girl, could peel an apple in one long loop.

Janice~

Sandy said...

LOL They could do the apples, too, Janice. We just didn't appreciate their talent.

Avalon Cat Cartoons said...

I'm such a slow potato peeler too. Maybe our potato peeler genes have changed (for the worst) over generations :)