Cherry Pits

When I was a kid, I thought I disliked cherries. To me, cherries were that icky, sweet cherry pie filling - which I found so unappealing. The only cherries I would eat were maraschino cherries - typically atop my sundae or as an accent to my Shirley Temple.

Then, when I was an adult, I decided to try a fresh cherry. I loved it. I wondered why I hadn't tried them earlier. I would buy myself cherries and eat them, keeping a napkin handy for spitting out the cherry pits.

Then, I had kids. My kids love fruit and I wanted to do my best to expose them to a variety of fresh, seasonal fruits. I tried slicing the cherry to remove the pit, but this was hugely messy and I wound up with what seemed like a hundred pieces from a fairly small piece of fruit. I knew there had to be a solution.

One day, I was out shopping and I saw it - the solution to my problem. It was a Cherry Pitter. The one I found happens to be an Oxo Good Grips Cherry Pitter, but I am sure that there are others out there.



It is great! I love it! It really is a very simple instrument. There is a plastic shield that I set over my napkin that helps to direct the pit and any juices downward. The pitter is essentially a holder with a hole that the pit drops through and a pin that pushes through the middle of the fruit to push out the pit. There is virtually no effort required to remove the pit. I use it all the time in cherry season - I even pit my own cherries most of the time.

Now, I can offer fresh cherries to my kids without any worry about pits and that works for me.

Check out Works for Me Wednesday for more tips and tricks.