Thursday, October 12, 2006

Moneymaker #7,839

Note this day: the day that you read for the first time of a world-changing invention that will make me a rich woman and put my name on everyone's lips. Well, as soon as I line up an engineer, a whole lot of money, a manufacturer, and a distribution deal. Ahem. Any minute now. But here's the goods:

Mashed potatoes, apple pie, tomato sauce, roasted red peppers, peach pie, scalloped potatoes. Mmmm, right? All delicious, all economical, all fairly healthy (depending on who's cooking. If it's my brother, prepare to die very happily of a massive coronary. Mr Butterfat, he is.) But all of them would be a lot healthier if the fruits and vegetables weren't peeled. The peels have all the good stuff. But big tough peels are not the nicest thing to find in your mashed potatoes or your pie.

So, you know those wallpaper-scoring tools that you use when you're removing old wallpaper? Or those little gadgets that promise to cut through only one thickness of newsprint, to facilitate clipping articles that you will set aside and never send to anyone or, indeed, ever look at again? You know those?

Well, we need something along similar lines for peels. Something that will cut the peel into lots of tiny little pieces while it's still attached to the fruit or veg. I'm imagining something that looks a little like a palm sander, that you would rub over the surface of the fruit. That way, the peels stay on for their vitamin- and fiber-providing power, but no one has to chew through them.

Now the only thing is to come up with a catchy name that will sound good on late-night TV. Peel-olator... Fibro-tron... Fruita-max 3000...

Engineers and venture capitalists, please contact me for licensing and investment information. Don't let this amazing chance slip through your fingers! Once in a lifetime opportunity! The yard sale of tomorrow depends on the misplaced innovation of today!