No matter how good your knife skills are when dealing with a large number of apples, you do need a fast and easy way to core them and dice them.
My family and I consume a lot of apples in salads, juices, and desserts. Yeah yeah, we are the core apple lovers. With this comes a mammoth task of coring and dicing these many apples. It took me a hell of a time to cut up apples and frustrated me in the end. However, my love for apple didn't let me give up. Instead, I found some cool tools that completely changed the scene from being miserable to bright. I can't wait to share it with you.
Coring
There are many types of apple corer available in the market but the best one that worked for me is the one with a long handle and a circular tube with a serrated bottom edge. The tube fits over the core, holding it together while you pull it out.
If investing in this tool, then go for the one with sturdy steel metal with a good handle grip. Cheap one has a poor metal quality and it will bend on you while applying pressure.
Pic of apple corer that I have
Below I have listed easy steps with detailed photos on how to use this corer.
Step 1:
I like to cut off a thin slice from the top and base of the apple. Doing so makes the base of the apple flat and stable to place apple upright on the cutting board. Whilst, the top of the apple, the flesh is exposed making it non-slippery for the corer to easily dig in.
Step 2:
Place apple upright on the cutting board. Place the serrated edge of the corer over the apple core and push it in straight through the apple flesh. When the corer reaches the cutting board, lift the apple, and continue to push the corer until you see the serrated edge poking out the other end of the apple.
Step 3:
Pull the corer out from the side it was pushed in. It will come out holding the apple core in the tube. Remove the core from the tube by applying pressure on the core using your thumb.
Slicing before dicing
Before dicing, slicing apple to desired thickness is important. Cut thick Slices for thicker or bigger pieces while thin slices for thinner or smaller pieces while dicing. Place them in salted water to prevent apples from browning. See hack - An effective way to prevent cut Apples from browning.
Dicing
Here is another tool I use to dice (see the pic) numerous fruits and vegetables. There are several types of dicers available in the market. Choose the one that has interchangeable cubing blades to give different sizes. Nowadays these dicing tools also come with many more attachments like slicing blade, grating blade, julienne blades, etc. so go for what is suitable for you. This dicing tool is very handy and has made my life so much more convenient. Specifically, achieving even size cubes for even cooking and visually uniform cuts for salads.
Place the apple slice over the cubing blade. Close the lid and press it down by slamming over the lid. The apple slice will cut into cubes and get collected in the container below the blade. Continue this with the rest of the slices and have cubes ready in minutes.
Using dicer is not limited to apples,try this hack with other fruits and vegies like pears, potatoes, tomatoes, capsicum, onions, etc.
