Inside Helana’s Kitchen: Cherry Pitter

I’ve been putting off buying a cherry pitter for some time now.  

Not because I didn’t really need one, but because I thought I could eat around the cherry seeds…or the olive seeds for that matter.

Eating around the seeds sucks.  It just does.  

You can’t make pies, you can’t pop a bright red cherry in your mouth and crunch down (well…you could…), and there’s a certain hassle associated with an un-pitted cherry.  

And, yes, I realize how silly that sentence sounds. But cherry pitting is serious business for home cooks and can be made surprisingly easy with the right device.  

(Or, some creativity as chronicled by Kristi Mucci at Food 52 here and an abused fork here.) 

This month, I bit the metaphorical bullet (or seed) and threw a pitter in my Whole Foods shopping cart by OXO brand.  

At $12.99, the pitter is reasonably priced, pretty, and extremely easy to use.  

Simply place your olive or cherry in the fruit compartment and “plop,” out comes the seed. Here are some detailed reasons why you might consider buying this pitter.

OXO-Brand Cherry Pitter

-Pros–

Insanely easy to use-Dishwasher safe-Multi-purpose: for both cherries and olives

-Mess-free (very little of the fruit gets “juiced” and leaves the meat in tact)

-Splatter shield that does just that–prevents you from getting “splattered”

-Extra Large: this accommodates different kinds of cherries (like Bing and Rainer) or over-sized olives

-Cons-

-The hinge is plastic, and 1 out of 179 reviewers at Amazon mentioned s/he believed this was the cause of a possible break after occasional use in the course of 3 months.  I only mention this possible flaw because I believe the pitter could have an issue down the road, but for now, it works beautifully.

-Why didn’t I buy this sooner?

So, if I had to rate it, I’d give this 5 out of 5 cookies.

Oh, and did I mention that unpitted cherries kind of suck?

–Helana Brigman

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