May 10, 2011
I look forward to cherry season all year. They are such a gift from nature–a perfect mixture of sweetness and tartness that makes a burst of flavor in your mouth. Just when I crave them the most, I see them start to trickle into our farmers markets. Then, boom. Like the blue sky that suddenly appears at noon after a foggy morning, cherry season is here and summer is right around the corner.
I bought this tool a few years ago, and I have to say it’s become one of my favorites. This was not always the case. I used to feel if you insisted on pitting your cherries, you were kind of well…a wuss, or at least high maintenance. Just eat the darn thing and spit out the seed—it’s not that hard! But, I will say, when you are trying to bake a pie, tarte, or turn your delectable fruit into sorbetto, a pitter is an absolute necessity.
This tool makes pitting large batches of cherries easy with less mess. Plus, it’s a fun, safe cooking task for kids. Seriously, sometimes I’m not sure if my daughters actually like cherries, or if they just like to use the cherry pitter to shoot the pits into the bowl. If a one-use (actually two—it works great for olives as well) tool isn’t your style, I’ve heard that you can use a paperclip to remove cherry pits, but that’s a whole other post!
2 down, 20 more to go
Amazon has several different kinds of pitters, including some that will do several pits at once. I like the OXO Good Grips Pitter. It’s simple, relatively inexpensive, and it works. What are your favorite pitted cherry recipes?
