To peel vegetables

Caroline Attwood

When we prepare vegetables, we have two options, to peel or not to peel them
- If vegetables are organically grown, a light wash is sufficient, no need to peel them. It is important not to soak vegetables for long as they lose a large part of the nutritive value. It is recommended to lightly brush them under running water.
- Of course if those vegetables are cultivated in other conditions with pesticides, if it mandatory to wash them thoroughly and to peel them.

But how ?

The doctor Kousmine recommended peeling vegetables in the growth direction, according to her, carrots have to be peeled from the leaves to the root in harmony with the order of the Universe.
The bio-nutritionist Marion Kaplan later developed the idea along the Professor Henri Joyeux.
Marion Kaplan explains that our aliments are alive. At the start of each vegetal we have a seed. With the magic of water and photosynthesis, the seed becomes a stem, a flower or a tree.
After a few months, the plant will become a mature plant. For fruits, tubers, beans and squash the biological process has been completed. However for other plants like salads, and green vegetables, we are stopping this process of development before complete maturity. As soon as a fruit is plucked, or removed from the soil another process takes place that leads to decay.
It is important to reduce as much as possible oxidation. The process occurs as soon as the cut food comes to contact with oxygen. The majority of aliments start deteriorating with oxygen and contact with light, they brown, change consistency, flavor, smell and lose their nutritive value. 

How to slow down the oxidation process ?
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1. Purchase vegetables with their leaves and roots attached, it will slow down the decay process. A vegetable kept in the fridge with its leaves and roots will take longer to wither.
2. Prepare the vegetables at the last minute. A whole carrot lose very slowly the carotene content if kept in the fridge. A grated carrot at room temperature will lose its provitamine A. Just add a lemon juice to slow the process and keep the vitamins. The best example is the apple, as soon as you grate an apple a brownish color start to appear on the surface, a visible sign of air oxidation.
3. Food processors oxidize aliments 200 times faster, just pour some lemon juice over the preparation as soon as it is processed.
4. Peel the vegetables in the right direction will also slow down the oxidation. 

 Which way to peel ?

Always peel from the leaves to the roots, from top to bottom (from sky to earth)

• Leaks - Cut the leak in 2 from the green to the white part. Cut the roots last.
• Potatoes – are much more complicated, you need to recognize the part where the flower was attached; it is generally from the pointed side to the larger side.
• Onions -  are the most sensitive, remove the onion skin from the top towards the roots. To chop an onion, first cut it in two from top to bottom. I tried and the only onion that brings tears to the eyes is the one you peeled the wrong way. Onions liberate lacrimal projections.Each vegetable has its own reaction but they are not as strong as the onions.

Peeling vegetables in the right direction not only slows down oxidation it also shortens cooking time.  

References:
​Marion Kaplan - 120 recettes à la vapeur sans gluten ni laitages
Pr Henri Joyeux - Changez d'alimentation
​https://www.vitaliseurdemarion.fr/officiel/advices/lepluchage-des-legumes/