Amp Up The Texture Of Your Salad With Peeled (Not Chopped) Veggies

Salads: fresh, colorful, and typically a rich sea of flavors. Unfortunately, when the vibrant layers of chopped vegetables all share a uniform texture, it can be somewhat disappointing — with each crunchy mouthful feeling more tedious than the last. To avoid this scenario, you may have resorted to curling green onions or quick-pickling your greens. However, a simpler way to prevent texture boredom from ruining your fondness for fresh vegetables involves using a peeler. 

Peeling vegetables into ribbons imparts a gentler crunch to the salad's texture, allowing for delicate layers instead of the firm diced variety. Consider mixing peeled veggies like carrots, cucumber, or yellow squash into your salad. It would remove the mismatched spots of color to create smooth waves and provide you with a newfound love for the usual salad suspects. Admit it, peeling takes just as much time as chopping, yet it simultaneously introduces an enticing visual element. Once you have this peeling down, more salad doors will open.

For this trick, make sure to wash your vegetables first. Next, trim the ends, and if using longer vegetables, like carrots, chop them in half crosswise. Then, carefully slice long, thin ribbons from the vegetable using a peeler. Mix these in a bowl with other ribbon vegetables or salad ingredients and add a dressing. If you use vegetables with hard or tough skin, like beetroot or pumpkin, peel this exterior skin first and discard (or make vegetable chips). If the outside skin is soft and tender, like with yellow squash or cucumber, peel this into your salad mix. You'll get a wonderful mixture of ribbon textures and colors. 

If you want wider ribbons, consider using the common Y-shaped peeler or a straight peeler (the type you would use for potatoes). However, if you use a julienne peeler with serrated teeth, you can achieve smaller, more uniform strands. If you prefer the ribbons to be longer so that you can curl them decoratively into your salad, do not cut them in half. Peelers are not the only way to achieve thin ribbons; a mandoline slicer would also give a similar result to longer vegetables; just mind your fingers.

For a simple peeled salad, mix olive oil and lemon juice in a small bowl. Combine wide ribbons of cucumber, carrot, yellow squash, and zucchini in a larger bowl, and then toss with the oil and lemon mix. Season to taste before drizzling with a herby yogurt dressing and crumbling feta on top. Serve with some fresh mint leaves, and you have a salad that ticks all the texture, taste, and presentation boxes.

To take it a step further, if you're willing to invest in a specialized green papaya peeler (which is not too dissimilar from a julienne peeler), then you can easily attempt one of the most popular salads found around the world. Thai green papaya salad, also known as Som Tum, Som Tam, or ส้มตำไทย, is a salad that doubles down on crunchy textures while demonstrating exactly why fruit has a place in savory spaces. Peeling the papaya with a peeler is much simpler (and safer) than attempting to shred it with a larger knife. Hopefully, you feel inspired to include the peeler in future salad endeavors. Don't save it for just the potatoes; the peeler serves as a reminder that your salad's texture has the potential to be so much more.