You don't have to buy a cherry pitter. You can make your own if you have a soda or water bottle and a straw. Put the cherry on top of the bottle opening, and push the straw through. The pit will come out and land on the bottom of the bottle.
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I have to give my daughter Sabrina credit for this one. We were discussing pits in cherries last week, and she told me what she had discovered. If you save a firm, wider straw from one of the many fast food places, they are perfect for pitting cherries!
I got a great deal on cherries and wanted to freeze some for winter months. I discovered how to pit them without a pitter!
We have a Stella cherry tree in our backyard. This type of cherry is bright red and sweet, but not as sweet as a Rainier or Bing. They are delicious fresh but are also tart enough to be used in pies and preserves.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
What is the best/easiest way to remove the pits from fresh cherries if you do not have a cherry pitting machine? Cherries are supposed to be really good for arthritis and I would like to get them now and freeze them for smoothies.
By Barbara Kamm from Middletown, DE
My husband makes home made wine. Last summer we pitted 15 pounds of cherries for it without a cherry pitter. We used a ball point pen with the ink refill removed.
Years ago a friend showed me how to easily pit a cherry using a hair pin! Not a (tight) bobby pin but the open U shaped ones. Go through the top of the cherry and just scoop it out. :)
All great Ideas ! You can use a straw or put a long nail in a board turn it over, clean it and push the cherries on it. I use the hairpin method and Hubby used the nail!
I don't know anything about pitting cherries, but would like to point out that not all cherries are equal. The active anti-inflammatory compound, anthocyanins, is most prevalent in tart cherries.
No need to invest in an automated pitting machine, but if you plan on pitting a lot of cherries, why not buy a manual handheld pitter? You can find them for as little as $7.
You can find plenty of inexpensive cherry pitters on ebay and Amazon. Here's another $7 model. Some of the < $20 models even do several cherries at a time, or have automatic feeding.
I like to use a vegetable peeler. Just insert the cupped end into the stem end of the cherry and pull the pit out. Be sure to hold the cherries over the receiving container so as to retain all the juice.
