I was told there'd be pie (there's a gadget for that)

Ah, cherry season is almost upon us. (and I am not talking about June brides. Seriously, you guys. Jeez.)

I think most of us opt to rinse, eat and spit (another June bride joke and I’ll punch you in the neck). Because the fruit is soooooo difficult to pit, we are deprived of so many more ways to appreciate the cherry.





To kitchen fiends, the answer is obvious. But to this particular gadget fanatic, I just found my answer last year. And it is my second most favorite kitchen tool. There are a lot of different designs but I think this is the cleanest look.





Mine is grey, made of hard plastic and plain old ugly. When I bought it, there wasn't another choice in the store and I didn't have the patience to look around for another. It does work well, yet I am hoping it breaks soon.



The OXO version looks like overkill but I should probably do a comparison. Will let ya know.








Last summer I was cutting up fruit for a salad and one of my guests, AM, asked what she could do to help so I handed her a colander of cherries and the cherry pitter. Because the design of the tool itself is shaped like the job it is supposed to do, it sort of had implied instructions or “the system image” as Dr. Donald A. Norman (Emotional Design) would say. And I believe AM enjoyed the chore because I think I remember hearing a “wheeeeee”.

It is a lot of fun to work with because cherry pits go shooting off everywhere. I wouldn’t call it a design flaw. Wheeeeeeee! But you can learn to aim them into the bowl if you like.

She liked the tool well enough to buy one for herself and she also buys it as a host gift. Not one to be beyond borrowing the ideas of others, I too bought one for my next-door neighbor, MY, as a thank you for “a welcome to the neighborhood” dinner party. I also included the small colander, a tea towel and re-usable shopping bag (all from Broadway Panhandler). Apparently cherry pie is her husband’s fav and I was able to make the job just a little bit easier. Yay me.

It is also called an olive pitter and yes it works for olives but not so well with all olives. Kalamata, yes. But cerignola olives, no.

The cherry/olive pitter can be found at Williams-Sonoma, Sur la Table and Broadway Panhandler.







And then there is the ultimate cherry pitter. Hee!