To remove the pits from our interminable mound of sour cherries, I bought a food mill for $35 last week. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as I hoped. The mesh at the bottom of the bowl is designed to grab onto the food in the mill, which allows the rotating scraping blade to force the food through the mesh. In other words, a food mill is meant to pureé what's inside, not to strain out the unwanted bits. I found that the cherry pits got stuck against the holes in the mesh and didn't slide across as I had envisioned. As a result, they got caught under the blade, which therefore failed to rotate. My solution to this snafu was to remove the metal blade altogether and use a rubber spatula to stir the cherries around in the bowl. This proved to be a fairly efficient method of pit removal, but it left my arm quite tired.
Today, I discovered an even better method. I removed the pits before cooking using a cherry pitter that I fashioned from a simple piece of wire (pictured above; notice the cherry stains on the wire and my finger). This device was inspired by the paper clip idea I had found on some websites. The small loop on the end, which is about ⅛ inch wide, is used to dig into the stem end of the cherry and to scoop out the pit, while the U shape provides stability and reduces thumb strain by giving something to hold onto. This homemade pitter worked like a charm, going through the cherries at twice the speed as the food mill did. And best of all, it costs next to nothing.
I will keep my food mill to make applesauce in the fall, but for pitting summer cherries, I think I've found the perfect gadget.
1 comment:
I had a little (widget)when I was a kid that worked well for pitting, but it is never easy, is it?
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