A Simpler Way to Pit Cherries

Whether in cherries jubilee,  gluten-free chocolate-cherry torte, or fresh from the farmers market, ripe, juicy cherries are hard to beat.

The one downside of this sweet fruit? The annoying pit right in the center of their juicy flesh. You’ve got to deal with it somehow, and carefully paring each and every cherry can be absurdly time consuming.

But there’s no need to buy some fancy contraption or slave away at the cutting board for ages—you most likely already have everything you need to neatly and easily pit cherries.

Either a straw or a chopstick will work perfectly in this method. First, wash and dry the cherries. Then, press the straw or chopstick into the stem-end of a cherry. When you hit the pit, press harder until it shoots out the other end of the cherry. If you’re using a chopstick, make your first hole with the smaller end, then switch to the larger end to fully remove the pit.

Pro tip: Work over a small bowl to catch the cherry pits. Since ripe cherries are very juicy, make sure to cover up with an apron or old t-shirt to avoid stains.

Preserve summer cherries all the way through the winter by freezing your juicy loot—a fresh cherry pie is a surefire way to stun holiday guests!

Photo credit: Alicia Cho