A cherry pitter is a wonderful thing, but what do you use if you don't have one? Recently we were cooking at a friend's home and without a pitter or a pastry tip in sight, we turned to another versatile tool: the chopstick!
To pit cherries with a chopstick, just place the chopstick on the stem-end of the cherry, push it through, and voilà – out pops the pit.
Occasionally you might have to root around for the pit, and the process is messier and more time-consuming than using a pitter. However, as long as you don't have too many cherries to process, it's actually kind of fun.
How do you pit cherries?
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McGuyver would be proud!!!
I've tried the chopstick to no success. :( I did recently get one of those plastic cups for iced coffee and it has a very sturdy plastic straw that works quite well for it. It cradles the pit enough so that the pit doesn't slide/move around in the cherry.
I always use straws, but they do need to be fairly sturdy or they quickly start to become useless.
I just bought a cherry pitter that does six cherries at once. It was the best $12 I've spent in a long time.
@natalie: brand???
I've tried using a fondue fork before, and that actually works pretty well.
I like the texture better when they've been cut in half, so I do that and take the pits out with my thumb.
Martha Stewart said one of her staffers used a paper clip - http://www.marthastewart.com/273333/pitting-cherries
I thought that very clever
I always use a bobby pin. The big ones work best and of course wash it really well first. Stick the curved end into the top of the cherry where the stem was and scoop out the pit. It always pops out easily. I've actually pitted a ton of cherries this way for jam and didn't think it was much harder or messier than using a pitter and no need for a uni-tasker!
We have a cherry tree. If I had used a chopstick, I would have processed our cherries!
This is my cherry pitter:
http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-19643/?affsrcid=Aff0002
oops! I would NOT have managed to process our cherries (and would have had stained fingers for week!).
Awesome pitter!
This is why I never buy cherries or even think to use them for anything other than eating out of a bowl. I had some that were starting to turn so I did what caseoftornados has done but I wouldn't want to do that for a whole lot of them! All of these methods sound really interesting. I'll have to try them!
I just tried this for the first time. The "business end" of the chopstick was not so hot -- lots of stabbed fingers. But the square end of the chopstick (where they were attached in the package) was blunt enough that it didn't slip off and stab me, and just pushed the pit right through.
i got one of these on sale at bed, bath & beyond. it was an impulse purchase, but i'm glad i did it. works really well (put a paper towel or cloth under the catch bowl as cherry juice tends to get on the table) and it's hella fast. i buy cherries, bring them home, pit them, and put them in the fridge. people are always impressed when they drop by & i've got fresh pitted cherries to offer as snacks.
The chopstick works better if you use it with an empty beer bottle. Place the cherry on top of the neck of the bottle, then punch through with the chopstick. The best part is that you can just throw the bottle away when you're done.
Food52 taught me that if you place the cherry over a beer bottle (or other small neck bottle) and then poke the chopstick through, it makes fairly quick and tidy work of pitting!