Woman shows correct way to use a peeler and people say they've been doing it wrong this whole time

If you've ever cooked anything more sophisticated than a ready meal, the chances are you've had to peel a vegetable at some point.

This means we obviously all know how to operate a vegetable peeler, right?

Wrong. At least, according to a video posted online which shows a hack on how to use the kitchen utensil more efficiently.

If you are someone who uses the variety of peeler where the blade is parallel to the handle then you may have noticed how the blades are often a little wobbly.

You could be forgiven for thinking that this was because the peelers are made cheaply, but it's actually an intentional design feature.

In the video posted on TikTok - by user @foodbyjenn - the blade's flexibility in the handle is actually an important part of it being able to work properly.

If you've ever handled a potato you may have noticed they tend to have a pretty irregular shape.

It's not a smooth shape - they're covered in lumps, bumps and dips.

The blade being able to rock back and forth in the handle actually helps it to keep the best angle to peel as you move it over the vegetable.

And, as the video shows, it also allows you to bring the peeler back again and get another strip of veg peel off with the backward stroke.

That means you can peel a vegetable twice as efficiently, assuming you can get the technique right.

Needless to say people had a lot of thoughts on the revelation, and took to social media to share them.

One wrote: "At this point, I’m not even sure I’m breathing right."

Another commented: "Can't tell you how many I've thrown away because I thought they were broken. Not just mine either, like every time I see one at people's houses I just throw it away, because it's broken. At least in my own mind it was broken. Maybe I'm the broken one."

A third said: "I literally just thought mine was loose and I needed to get a new one."

Of course, there are different types of peelers as well, and the method here would only work with the one shown in the video.

Some might argue, if they felt as though vegetable peelers were a point of controversy, that the ones where the blade is at 90 degrees to the handle are the superior variety of peeler.

This could be because not only is it much easier to get a purchase with these, but you also have more control on getting thinner peel so you can also use it on citrus fruit, for example.