I haven't seen one of these commercials in a while, but this morning while I was getting ready for work the TV shoved Tater Mitts in my face.



That's right, ladies and gentlemen: nubbly gloves are your solution to all your potato-peeling problems. Just scrub the spud under running water and you'll have the skin off in only eight seconds, leaving all the healthy vitamins and minerals with no waste!

Wait a second. Hasn't it been scientifically stated that most of the vitamins in a potato are in its skin? Well, no, that's an old wives' tale. But leaving the skin on helps the potato retain its nutritive value rather than leaching it all out into the cooking water. (At least, according to The Straight Dope.) Besides, the skins just plain taste good. Why take them off?

All right, there are some tubers that need peeling, I'll admit. Sweet potatoes and russets have thick skins that, though edible, are pretty nasty. Still, if you can't use a vegetable peeler to strip one of those in 20 seconds, maybe you need to stick to takeout. And I'm pretty sure most of us can spare that extra minute in our prep schedules. We aren't Rachael Ray, after all, with our huge bobble heads and Joker grins forcibly wedged into a 30-minute time slot.

So maybe you don't have a vegetable peeler. Should you look into buying the Tater Mitts? Well, still no. These things retail for $19.95, plus $7 shipping. If I spent $26 on a vegetable peeler, at least I'd better be able to practice my Spanish with her. You can get a good one at Target for five bucks. If you really want to use the blade-free method, though, a three-pack of green scrubby pads is 75 cents.

"But wait!" you're saying. "If I do that, I won't get the bonus vegetable slicer! It makes perfect fries in a snap!" Well, here's another question: how often are you making fries for people who are picky about their being precisely symmetrical that you need this thing? And as a follow-up, does your pediatrician already have the "obese" stamp inked?