Smart Designs: The Best Cherry Pitter Ever

Emma Christensen
Emma Christensen
Emma is a former editor for The Kitchn and a graduate of the Cambridge School for Culinary Arts. She is the author of True Brews and Brew Better Beer. Check out her website for more cooking stories
published Jul 20, 2011
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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Twelve pounds of fresh cherries to pit? No problem. This ingenious and surprisingly inexpensive cherry pitter makes it easy.

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

The whole spring-loaded pitter is affixed to the lid of a canning jar. A hole in the lid allows the pit to fall through while the cherry stays nestled on top. Since the lid also screws onto a standard canning jar, the pits stay neatly contained in the jar below.

After some trial and error, I found it easiest to operate the pitter with my thumb. I cupped the jar with my fingers and punched down with my thumb, using the other hand to place and remove the cherries. I switched hands a few times, but neither thumb felt overly fatigued even after going through several pounds of cherries.

This also separates the pits from the cherries very cleanly with very little loss of cherry flesh. Some of the very ripe cherries did release a lot of juice, but it was easy enough to strain the juice collected in the bottom jar back into the bowl.

No matter what, several pounds of cherries is going to take a while to pit. But this pitter certainly made the job a lot easier and less annoying. It’s a vast improvement over the clamp-like pitters I’ve seen before or the syringe-style pitter my mother and grandmother use.

I found this one at the farmstand where I bought my cherries for a very reasonable $10. They’re also available on Amazon if you’re having trouble finding them in stores:

• Buy It! Push Button Cherry Pitter, $9.95 on Amazon

Do any of you use this cherry pitter? Or have another one that you love?

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Related: No Cherry Pitter? Use a Chopstick

(Images: Emma Christensen)

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