For awhile there, I was posting tips every week. And then, much to my surprise, I did’t have as many kitchen tips stored away in my noggin’ as I had thought. So I ran out of tips. But today, after pitting a bunch of cherries in no time flat without any official cherry-pitting tools, I’m inspired – and so I’m back with this doozie of a tip! And this isn’t just a tip, it’s a tip about a tip. Read on. That will make sense in a minute.
I’m far too excited about rediscovering this awesome little summertime kitchen hack. Are you ready to learn the easiest way to pit a cherry (without a pitter)? You need just one teeny tiny little kitchen item to make this happen. Are you ready? Drumroll please …
See that white thing there, the one with the strange eye and the menacing grin? Yep, that’s an icing tip! Okay, so usually icing tips are silver and metal, not white and plastic, but this one was all I could find in my kitchen – and it works just as well.
So here’s what you do.
You dig through your drawers to find an icing tip, preferably one that shoots out star-shaped icing, because its edges are almost serrated and they cut through the cherry easier. But other shapes will do fine, too.
Now pull the stem off your cherry. And push the tip into the top, and keep pushing, gently but firmly, twisting the frosting tip back and forth a bit to help cut through the cherry.
If you’re photographing the whole affair, please, for the love of God, make sure you have nail polish remover in the house. Because you do not want to be like me.
And then, whomp! There it is! Out comes the pit! Right out of the bottom. The icing tip pushed it right out.
Oh, cherry.
Now you’re ready to pit a whole bunch of cherries in record time.
Take that, big fancy cherry pitters of the world!
I’m so glad you’re here! I’m a vegetarian home cook, certified plant-based pro, and mom. I’m married to an enthusiastic carnivore, and my mission is to achieve peace in the kitchen – one tasty recipe at a time. These days, with a name like mine, I also try not to ask to speak to the manager.
You smartie pants you! I am so stealing this idea!
Ha! 🙂 Please, steal away!
Now that’s was a brilliant idea.
Definitely trying this. I saw one last week where you place the cherry on top of an empty wine bottle and push a chop stick through the middle while holding on to the cherry. I haven’t tried it yet.
I’ve never heard of that one. That sounds cumbersome – yet I *have* to try it! 🙂
This made me laugh out loud! We just traded a bunch of veggies at the farmers market for some local cherries and I was pitting them with a kitchen knife! It sucked. I googled better ways but this is the BEST I’ve seen so far. Can’t wait to give it a whirl!!! Cheers to cherry season!!!
It works SO well, I promise you! 🙂 Sounds like you got a great deal. I have both Bings and Rainiers in my fridge and I really want to do something special with them, but it’s so hard to just not pluck a few here and there to snack on. I love cherry season!
Just wanted to say that I tried this today and it works GREAT! Thanks so much for the tip (pun intended)! 🙂
Yay! Glad to hear it. 🙂 It was a little weird writing a tip about a tip! 😉
We use a straw. The circumference of the straw is perfect for pushing the pit right out and keeps the cherry intact.
The chipped fingernail polish is gross.
Hello Kare.
This is really a cool pit technique. I am definitely gonna try this next time. Thanks for sharing.
I live in eastern Washington state and we just picked some beautiful Bing and Rainier cherries today. I’m planning on making your cherry ice cream recipe after I give my Cuisinart ice cream bowl a couple of days in the freezer. I just had to comment, I saw a cherry pitting hack that involved putting the cherry on the top of a glass soda or beer bottle and pushing the pit through with a straw. I think the piping tip would probably work better – but the glass bottle part would probably still work. If you just happened to have a glass bottle around the house, that is.