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Couscous
Many people assume couscous (pronounced KOOS-koos) is a grain, but it is actually a wheat product made from semolina (coarsely ground durum wheat) that has been steamed and allowed to dry. It has a pellet-like appearance and does not have much flavor when served alone, but becomes quite flavorful when added to other ingredients due to its ability to absorb surrounding flavors. When cooked, couscous expands to become light and fluffy.

Originally hailing from Morocco and northern Algeria, it has long been a staple throughout North Africa and the Mediterranean. Couscous, first introduced to the New World more than 400 years ago by Portuguese traders, is traditionally made by hand and then steamed twice in a special two-tiered pot called a couscousière.

Each country seasons couscous differently. Moroccans use saffron, which creates a yellow-colored dish, and might top couscous with fish and a sauce of raisins and onions. Algerians add tomatoes to their couscous, and Tunisians create a spicy dish with harissa sauce, a hot pepper sauce. Sweetened with almonds, cinnamon and sugar, or with fruit, it can even be a dessert.

Elsewhere, precooked dried couscous, the kind found in most supermarkets, is available either packaged or in bulk. It is simple to prepare — just add boiling water, let sit, then fluff with a fork.

It's important that you know which kind of couscous you are buying, instant or traditional. Traditional will take much longer to cook, sort of like the difference between dried beans and canned.

Couscous Varieties
Moroccan Couscous: Tiny grains of semolina are about three times the size of a grain of cornmeal. This type cooks very quickly. Moroccan couscous is bland when cooked in water, a stark canvas that needs embellishment.

Israeli Couscous: Also known as maftoul or pearl couscous, these semolina pellets are about the size of peppercorns and will take much longer to cook. This type is usually steamed in the traditional long-cooking method. In Western cooking, it is often used as a bed for salmon or chicken dishes, or put into salads. Compare with Middle Eastern tabouli or egg barley.

Lebanese Couscous: Also called maghrabiyeh. It is larger than Israeli couscous —about the size of small peas. This type of couscous has a nutty flavor profile. It is cooked by soaking in hot water for 30–45 minutes. Lebanese couscous is most often found at Middle Eastern markets or specialty stores.

Peelers
Peelers can quickly slash carrot strips for a salad or stir-fry, carve thin curls of Parmesan cheese for pasta, slice wide ribbons of zucchini for a simple sauté, and even shave delicate chocolate curls to adorn a cake.

The peeler is versatile, affordable, efficient and practical; it's more manageable than a mandoline, and safer than a knife. A good peeler — a must for every kitchen — needs a blade that slices smoothly into the vegetable and removes only the skin, not the flesh.

Peelers range from the simplest swivel-action to other, more specialized tools, like those designed for removing thick skins from citrus fruits or from asparagus, or the classic hand-cranked gadgets for peeling apples and potatoes.

The following is a rundown of the various peelers available on the market that may help your customers shave precious seconds off their prep time:

Swivel-Action Peeler: These peelers can do almost any job, but are particularly suited to removing long strips of peel from thin-skinned vegetables and fruits like carrots, potatoes and apples. The swivel action also turns corners nicely. To peel, simply push the blade away from the body in a rapid-fire motion.

Stationary Peeler: Before peelers swiveled, they were fixed, made from a curved blade into which two long slits with sharpened edges were cut. While not as effortless as the swivel peeler (you have to turn the blade to follow the contour of the fruit or vegetable), they do give you more control. To use, grasp the handle with four fingers and use the thumb of the same hand as you would a paring knife to both steady the food and pull the peeler along the surface.

Y-Shaped Peeler: Y-shaped peelers have a straight base that flares out like a "Y" at the blade. They perform the same task as the swivel and stationary peelers, only with a different motion — you pull the blade toward your body, rather than push it away from you. It lets you remove a substantial amount of peel in a single swoop, so it's perfect for vegetables with a large surface area. Its sturdiness enables it to withstand a lot of pressure, so you can drag it forcefully over thick-skinned vegetables like eggplant or rutabagas.

Citrus Peeler: Citrus peelers feature a pointed end that cuts through both the peel and the bitter pith, without injury to the fruit's delicate flesh. Simply draw the pointed edge of the peeler through the rind to aid in peeling oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit.

Apple & Potato Peeler: This hand-cranked, old-fashioned gadget not only peels apples and potatoes, but slices and cores apples as well. To use, spear the apple or potato on a three-tined fork and turn the crank. This spirals the fruit past a spring-mounted blade that does the peeling for you.