Peeled apple to the core

What to Do with Apple Peels and Cores

Published: 10/07/19, Last updated: 1/25/21

Additional reporting and updates by Katherine Sacks.

Here’s a secret: apple cores don’t exist. It’s the way most people normally eat apples, chomping down in a circular motion towards the center, leaving a seed-filled column in our wake, that gives us the impression that the fruit’s center is inedible. Eat your apple pole-to-pole instead, and you’ll hardly notice the seeds. Plus, you’ll get 30 percent more apple — the average volume of fruit that is pitched out as core.

Thirty percent is a lot of food waste. Of course, some eaters fear that the seeds are poisonous, which is why those cores are tossed. Another secret: while apple seeds do contain amygdalin, which can convert into cyanide when apple seeds are crushed or chewed, the amount is extremely low. Which means you’d have to eat a ton of apple seeds to be affected by the cyanide inside of them.

The average volume of an apple left in the apple core.

So now that know you can eat apples whole, you can start eating the whole thing. But in recipes for items like apple pie or apple sauce, the peels, cores and seeds are usually unused, leaving a big pile of scraps. There’s a lot you can do with those items, either adding them into their own recipe or finding one more use for them before they hit the compost pile. Here’s how:

Homemade Apple Pectin

A key ingredient of making homemade jams, jellies and preserves is pectin. Homemade pectin can be made from simmering apple cores and peels and adds a silky, luxurious texture to homemade preserves that packaged pectin cannot imitate.

Roasted Apple Peels

Apple peels tossed in warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, then crisped in the oven, make a tasty, wholesome snack. They’re also a fun, fall-flavored garnish for salads.

Powdered Apple Peels

Whiz oven-dried apple peels in a clean spice grinder to create apple powder. Stir into baked goods, sweet potatoes or your morning oatmeal for a boost of spiced apple flavor.

Cooking With Less Waste

Apple Peel Tea

Steep apple peels in boiling hot water for a comforting caffeine-free sip to enjoy on a chilly day. Add whole spice like cinnamon stick, clove and star anise for more warming flavor. You can also add apple peels to your tea pot during steeping to create an apple flavored tea.

Apple Flavored Water

Add a few apple peels to your reusable water bottle to create a subtly infused thirst quencher with a hit of flavor.

Apple Core Juice

Simmer apple cores and peels in water for 30 minutes. Cool and strain without pressing. Store juice chilled.

Apple Peel Fiber Booster

Apple peels are full of fiber. Keep them in an air-tight container in the freezer and toss them in smoothies for a kick of sweet fiber. Or chop them up and add them to pancakes, waffles or muffin mix, along with a sprinkle of cinnamon, for a healthy apple pie boost.

Apple Peel-Infused Liquor

Pack a sterilized jar with apple peels and cores, fill to cover with liquor and top jar with lid. Store in a cool, dark place for a month, shaking the jar every few days. Strain and serve straight or use in cocktails.

Apple Syrup

To make a fresh apple syrup, boil peels and cores in water, reducing liquid to intensify the flavor. Strain out apple solids and compost. Measure the remaining water, add an equal amount brown sugar to pot with liquid, and simmer until dissolved. Remove from heat and store chilled in an airtight container for up to a month. Serve over pancakes or waffles, or use in cocktails or for other desserts.

Apple Jelly

Some apple jelly recipes use whole apples, some use apple juice. If you have a lot of peels and cores leftover from a pie (or you save up scraps in the freezer), you can use them for this apple peel jelly, which first steeps the peels and cores in water to create a juice, and then uses pectin and lemon juice to thicken the liquid into jelly.

Apple Vinegar

Apple vinegar can be used for everything from salad dressing to making homemade mayo. And you can make it yourself with a little sugar, water and those apple scraps. Save your peels and cores in a jar in the freezer. When you have a full jar, follow the recipe below to turn your waste into liquid gold.

Apple Agrodolce

This Italian sweet and sour sauce is similar to gastrique, a vinegar-based pan sauce. Try it over grilled chicken. After you boil the apple cores in vinegar and sugar, use them for a second recipe with this mostarda, a tangy jelly that can be served with cured meats or cheeses.

Real Food Encyclopedia

Apple Peel Cleaner

Those apple peels can also help keep your pots clean. Boil with water for 15-20 minutes, and the acid in the peels will help remove stains from aluminum cookware. If you have stained aluminum utensils you can add them to the pot as well. An added bonus: boiling the apple peels will make your kitchen smell nice.

Recipe: Homemade Apple Vinegar

Sherri Brooks Vinton

Just like grape juice ferments into wine which then can ferment into vinegar, apple juice will also ferment as bacteria digests the fruit’s sugar into vinegar. Use apple trimmings to create apple juice for a waste-free, low-cost pantry staple.

Ingredients

3 cups apple peels, cores and trimmings
3 to 4 tablespoons sugar

Method

1. Submerge a 1-quart glass jar in boiling water for 10 minutes to sterilize. Drain and cool.
2. Fill jar with apple trimmings and 3 tablespoons sugar.
3. Fill jar with water so trimmings are completely submerged, using a weight if necessary.
4. Cover jar with cheesecloth or a coffee filter, securing around the neck with a rubber band, to protect from dust and insects.
5. Set aside in a dark, cool area for about a month, gently swirling the jar once a week to move the trimmings around. Add more sugar water if evaporation occurs; apples should stay submerged in liquid. After several weeks, a gelatinous disc may begin to form. This is the “vinegar mother” and is a natural part of the process.
6. When the vinegar reaches your desired tartness, strain and store refrigerated.

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The 7 Best Apple Peelers of 2021

Shop for the best apple peelers on the market today

Karen is a freelance writer who covers food and drinks for The Spruce Eats. Her work has appeared in Lucky Peach, Edible Manhattan/Brooklyn/Queens, Chowhound.com, Frenchly, PasteMagazine.com, and more.

Our editors independently research, test, and recommend the best products; you can learn more about our review process here. We may receive commissions on purchases made from our chosen links.

As the leaves start turning and temperatures cool down, it’s time to think about what autumn promises for our tables—and our apples. Apple pies, apple cobblers, apple crunches, apple butters, apple preserves, and apple chutneys will all be great choices for seasonal fare. But what about all the work involved? Peeling, coring, and slicing apples can be either a chore or a pleasure, depending on the day and your mood. But like anything in the kitchen, there’s usually a way to make it easier, and this selection of the best apple peelers, corers, and slicers will help you find ways to do just that. Here’s to fall, to time well spent in the kitchen, and always to more apples.

Best Overall: KitchenAid KSM1APC 5-Blade Spiralizer with Peel, Core, and Slice

If you already own a KitchenAid mixer, this attachment makes peeling, coring, and slicing apples and other fruit and vegetables a breeze. As with all of the KitchenAid attachments, this is sturdy and hardworking. It’s also dishwasher safe. The parts include a fine spiralizer, a medium spiralizer, a spiral slice (small core), a spiral slice (large core), and a peeler.

The measurements are 5.8 x 12.4 x 2.9 inches and it includes a one-year manufacturer’s warranty (though in general, it should last much longer). For serious cooks, the KitchenAid mixer and its attachments are one of the best investments you can make.

Best for Small Spaces: PL8 Apple Peeler & Corer Machine

If you’re looking for a modern design with compact storage ability, this is the model for you. The base is a creamy white and soft grey matte thick plastic and the details and blades are shiny stainless steel. The ergonomic base and non-skid feet hold the peeler up at an angle for easier use, and you can set it to peel, core, and cut, or to “peel only” or “slice and core only.» The size is 11 1/2 x 4 3/4 x 6 inches, with legs that fold in for storage. To clean after use, just put it in the dishwasher and you’re all set.

Best Traditional Table Clamp: Amco Apple Peeler Table Clamp

This corer/peeler packs a lot of power in a well-designed package. The red cast iron body and wooden handle have an old-fashioned look reminiscent of American farmhouse kitchens, and the C-clamp that attaches the peeler to the edge of a tabletop or counter offers sturdy protection against heavy use. The Amco brand has been designing classic kitchenware since the 1970s, and this popular classic has stood the test of time.

It can also be used for pears or potatoes. The shaft is chrome and the blades are stainless steel. It measures 10 inches long with a height of 7 3/4 inches (including clamp), and weighs 2 pounds, 4 ounces. Hand wash only.

Best Suction Cup: Matfer Bourgeat Stainless Steel Apple Peeler, Corer & Slicer 215155

The Matfer Bourgeat brand originated in France in 1814, and for the last 30 years, its USA subsidiary has been creating high-quality kitchenware for professional, as well as home kitchens. One of the interesting facts about this company is its “commitment to the permanent reduction of our environmental impacts” within its stated goal of sustainable growth. This top-rated apple peeler has a well-made suction cup that allows it to be used anywhere, in addition to its optional sturdy table clamp. Made from commercial-grade materials, it peels, slices, and cores simultaneously.

Best Handheld: Microplane 2-In-1 Apple Core and Peel 34145

Keeping it basic with style and strength is what the Microplane corer and peeler is all about. The reason this model works better than the usual handheld corer/peeler is the Microplane engineering technology, developed in the 1990s, which creates a surgical-grade chemically-etched blade. This handheld tool has a straight-edge blade for peeling and a sawtooth blade for coring and is 10 1/2 inches long. Microplane is a division of Grace Manufacturing Inc., and this corer is made in the USA by an employee-owned and managed company. It also comes with a protective cover and is dishwasher safe.

Best Electric: TOPCHANCES Electric Automatic Rotating Apple Peeler

This is a contemporary redesign of the classic apple peeler. It takes up less space and works on four (AA) batteries rather than the usual hand crank. This makes it incredibly helpful on an everyday basis for people with arthritis or tendonitis in their hands who like to cook “from scratch,” but for whom active peeling of fresh fruits and vegetables can be a painful task.

Apples as well as potatoes and many other fruits can be peeled by this machine, but it does not core or slice. The body of the unit is plastic, and the knife is stainless steel. The dimensions are 6.44 x 6.24 x 10.92 inches, and it weighs slightly under 2 pounds.

Best Lightweight: Farberware Apple Peeler, Slicer, and Corer

With a traditional-looking design, this red countertop suction model features an aluminum blade and makes quick work out of peeling, slicing, and coring apples. It’s made by Farberware, the well-known and respected kitchenware company started on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1900, which has now become one of the largest producers of cookware in the United States. It peels, cores, slices, and does spiral slices. It’s sized at 4.13 x 12.2 x 7.48 inches, with a very light overall weight of 0.2 pounds, making it one of the lightest apple peeler/corers on the market.

For a seriously hardworking tool that peels, cores, and slices bushels of apples at a time, the Matfer Bourgeat Stainless Steel Apple Peeler, Corer & Slicer is going to be a pleasure to use for many years to come. However, If you only pare and cut a few apples once in a while, the Microplane Apple Corer and Peeler is a fantastic choice.

What to Looks for When Buying an Apple Peeler

Electric or manual: Between electric and manual, the former is not only more convenient, but easier on people with aches and pains. It’s faster and more efficient, but pricier. It also requires more care. Some parts may not be dishwasher safe, so you might have to hand-wash or wipe down after use. A manual peeler is most often less expensive, easier to clean, and simpler to store. Because of its small size, it can be stashed in a drawer alongside cutlery and other small tools. Plus, you can bring it with you to a picnic, for example, because it doesn’t need a power source.

Countertop or handheld: Handheld peelers are lightweight and you can take them pretty much anywhere, unlike countertop peelers, which are typically much bulkier and heavier. Countertop peelers are great for peeling more apples at a faster rate, although having multiple handheld peelers allows other people in your household to help complete the task.

Material: To make sure your gadget works for years to come, get one made from sturdy, rust-proof material. You don’t want the handle to snap off while you’re prepping a pie. It’s also important that the handle is ergonomic, so you can peel apples for long periods of time without becoming uncomfortable. Sharp, long-lasting blades are vital to both electric and manual peelers. If you go with a countertop tool, you’ll want one with strong suction cups at the base, so it doesn’t go crashing to the floor.

Corer: Do you want to peel and slice or core your apples? If so, look for a hybrid tool.

Why Trust The Spruce Eats?

Karen Resta is a former pastry chef and writer specializing in food culture and history, cooking, pastries, and restaurants. She now spends a lot of her free time baking at home and recommends quality within your given budget. Having the right tools available and knowing how to use them well (it can take practice, like anything else) makes all the difference, and she curated this list with that in mind.

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