Abstract: Apparatus for vacuum peeling fruits and vegetables. The apparatus has a tank adapted to contain treating liquid, means for heating such liquid, a rotor mounted within the tank for rotation about a horizontal axis, the rotor being provided with a plurality of angularly spaced buckets for receiving the fruits and vegetables to be treated, the buckets having open radially inner and outer ends, coaxial radial inner and outer perforated cylinders within the tank between which the buckets move as the rotor rotates, the perforated cylinders closing the respective open ends of the buckets against the escape of fruits and vegetables therefrom, means for intermittently rotating the rotor so as to advance the buckets through the treating liquid in a series of steps, and a vacuum applying station into which the buckets are successively moved after they emerge from the treating liquid. The means for intermittently rotating the rotor provides a dwell period in which the buckets are disposed in the vacuum applying station.