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The Ease of Cherry Pitting

By on July 5, 2013 in Cherries, Helpful How To’s

Cherry pitting can be a laborious task.  But it’s totally worth it when you eat your most recent cherry creation!

For pitting tart/pie cherries, Mary Margaret recommends pitting them a quart at a time.  Keep your cherries in the fridge until you are ready to use them.  Fill a bowl with ice and cold water.  Put your cherries in the ice water and let them sit until they are super cold.  Once they are cold and firm, you can pop the pit out lickity-split.  Mary Margaret recommends holding the cherry in your right hand with the stem end  facing the left (stem removed, of course).  Gentley squeeze your pointer finger and thumb to pop the pit out of the stem end.  Once the pit has emerged, remove it with your left hand.  You want to be sure to not squeeze very hard, or else you will loose lots of the cherry juice.

cherry_pitter

When pitting sweet cherries, their flesh is a little firmer as is the skin, so popping the pit out with your fingers is a little more difficult.  If the cherry is super soft, you can probably remove the pit as described above, or you can try using a cherry pitting tool or a knife.  I recommend using an OXO cherry pitter.  I’ve tried others, but this is the best I’ve found.    Place the cherry in the pitting tool with the stem end up.  Squeeze the handle and the pit pops out the bottom.  You will loose a little of the cherry flesh that is attached to the pit, but it is minimal.

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