Do we have to peel veg?

I'm thinking of growing parsnips next year. We love them in our house (I never boil them, always fried or baked to keep them nice and sweet and full of flavour).

I peel them, just because that's the way it's always been done as far as I can tell.

I fairly recently gave up on peeling carrots, figuring its just a waste of carrot.

I gave up peeling spuds a few years ago (except when making mash, which is rare).

So when it comes to veg that we're raised to believe have to be peeled, is there any real reason not to? I.e. could I poison my whole family by not peeling something that general custom suggests should be peeled?

 

Hiya c1.

I think it's just a matter of taste I never bother peeling carrots, a waste of time. Parsnips are quite ridged, so I peel those. Maybe in the past it was done to remove any trace of soil?

 

Hi Clueless

I don't like peeling vegetables .. and certainly not fruit! I think things like carrots and potatoes are best eaten with their skins (all the vitamins are there), just scrubbed a bit to get some dirt off! I also like to eat an apple or pear with the skin on and munch around and throw most of the innards away ....

As Freddy says, it is a matter of taste ..



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I don`t see a problem with cooking veg in their skins as long as all the soil is washed off, We used to peel veg years ago because of all the chemicals involved in vegetable farming.

 

Have any of you done dried potato skins or apple skins? .... I won't say in the sun but can be done in the oven / micro I believe! Delicious and better for you than crisps and such like.

I learned many, many years ago in the States (in the early 70s) by an Indian (not red) boss of my t'other half that dried potato skins were the best snack ever having been sprinkled with some Indian spices and a little salt and baked in the oven ... ace!

 

I'm far too lazy and feckless to peel anything. Also I think stuff tastes better with the skin on, though the texture might be compromised a bit, mashed spuds, for example.

I don't buy the pesticides reason for peeling - if they've been sprayed the pesticides are just as likely to be inside the veg as on the skin. Likewise, a quick rinse in cold water is hardly likely to remove anything much apart from mud so i don't bother much if the veg appear clean.

I know a number of people who neurotically scrub and peel everything. They usually get lots of tummy upsets.

 

That's what Mrs Scrungee does, except using garlic & herbs in lieu of spices for flavouring. She once served up roasted potato skins & pea pod soup for lunch when she was in a very frugal mood, stuff most people would bin or compost.

 

Mrs Scrungee is going to be a very useful person to have around when the world economy collapses and we're all foraging in the hedgerows again for our dinners! I bet she does a mean nettle pottage as well.

 

I suspect that "presentation" is why veg is peeled by the multitude today. Once people started to have special dinners and started to really take care of how the dinner looked and its surrounding, then veg that had marks or abrasions from how they where grown would have been "cleaned up".

I can also think of a few other things why we peel veg, for example Pomme Duchesse a classic French dish. It's cooked, creamed potato mixed with egg then piiped into spiral towers, baked and served with a tomato concasse on the top. The potatoes would have to be peeled for that dish else the piping bag would clog with the skin.

Another example would be roasting veg (eg. Spuds & Parsnips), it's far more desirable to have an all over golden crsipy skin to these so peeling, par-boiling, shaking up in the pan then roasting gives that golden crunchy skin. The same unpeeled veg would roast ok and taste just fine, but would not look as desirable, again it's just presentation.

And when I last worked as a Chef, all our stocks (except fish) where made using unpeeled veg, it was just cut and roasted with the bones then the stock made.

Steve...

 

Excellent, thanks all.

So it seems, we peel stuff mostly for presentation, either for 'poshness' or just to get rid of unsightly imperfections.

There are a couple of exceptions. Of course if we see a green bit on an otherwise perfectly good potato, the green bit gets cut off and thrown away, because it not only tastes bad but is also mildly poisonous. Other than that, I reckon I'll not bother peeling veg in general.

 

I peel carrots just to check for root fly.

 

I never peel carrots. Never thought about root fly. What do they do? I'm guessing they eat into it and move in? In which case wouldn't we see tell tale holes?

 

You a vegetarian then?

 

funeee!

 

I would get hung, drawn and quartered if I didn't peel carrots :( The dogs love carrot peelings, there's a queue of canines as soon as I retrieve any from the pantry or fridge!!!

They also love potato skins.

Win win situation, we love the innards and the dogs love the peel, they also love whatevers on our plates but that's a different story LOL