25 Comments
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RK's avatar

About 65 years ago, my grandfather showed me how to use a woman's hairpin (Bobby pin) pried partly open into a V-shape.

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Zoë François's avatar

BRILLIANT! I have an entire sleeve of them! ♥️

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Leslie's avatar

I stick a hairpin into a wine cork and use the cork as a handle. Works great.

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Zoë François's avatar

Great idea!!! ♥️🍒

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Leslie's avatar

Not a Bobby pin, a hairpin which is wider.

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Claire Grezemkovsky's avatar

Ruth Reichel just shared about using a paperclip! You just open it up and poke.

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Zoë François's avatar

LOVE!!! And cheap! ♥️🍒

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L.K.'s avatar

Jacques Pepin uses a paper clip.

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Zoë François's avatar

Of course he does! ♥️🙌🏽😂

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Julie's avatar

A plastic straw (grab an extra at Starbucks) works great. And I’d wear gloves!

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Zoë François's avatar

Awesome!!! Wil try! 🍒

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Margaret Haggenmiller's avatar

Hello! I’ve discovered there are sour cherry trees in several city parks in Minneapolis 🍒🍒. We have such amazing green spaces❤️. I used a metal straw, it worked well.

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Zoë François's avatar

There sure are and in some parks plum trees are next to ripen. ♥️

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Sue Kakuk's avatar

Use an old fashioned vegetable peeler. I put cherry in left hand and hold peeler like a paring knife in right hand. Insert peeler, scoop out pit. The vegetable peeler is much easier to hold on to than a paper clip. Once you get the hang of it, you can pit a lot of cherries quickly. We put a plastic table cloth over the table, and everyone sits around pitting cherries!

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Ann Del Tredici's avatar

I have watched Erin McDowell pop the pits out of sour cherries just by squeezing them out.

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Carrie's avatar

I have a leifheit. Works well! The place I pick near the twin cities (Knapton’s) has a pitted at the farm for a $10.00 fee…so I do that now!

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Terri J's avatar

I have used this one for years on tart cherries. Can do a quart (washed and stemmed) in a few minutes. Its terrific. Leifheit Cherry Pitter - made in Germany and I just checked to see that it is still available online. Amazon sells for about $30

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Suzanne Lichtenstein's avatar

I use the tip of a metal chopstick. Works very well and fast.

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Deb Reierson's avatar

Sorry, but there are no cherry potters that I or my friends are aware of that work well for sour cherries. I d use the Oxo single cherry pitter but a chop stick works just as well if not better.

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Stephanie Mayer's avatar

I've used the Westmark Kernex for sour cherries for years. It works great!

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joyce hessefort's avatar

Someone told me recently that they use a chopstick, I think he said over a bottle. I hope to get some cherries in the morning and give it a try

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Heidi Krol's avatar

Hello Zoe,

We too had a bumper crop of sour cherries this year. (Eastern Ontario)So as per usual we shared lots with the birds. I use a small hand pitter it works great. Made scones, and pie and hope to make some jam.🤤

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LisaG's avatar

I have a morello tree, so LOADS of cherries. After many years of trying all the DIY options, unsatisfactorily, I got an OXO cherry pitter and never looked back. Yes, sour cherries can be much smaller than eating cherries, so it is a challenge even using my fav pitter but still less mess and faster - if you have plenty, ilosing a bit is the cost of not spending hours doing this. NOTE: wear black or unloved clothes, keep a mopping cloth handy, and do it outside- cherry juice stains and gets everywhere.

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