Pitless Cherries

Ok, let's face it, who doesn't love fresh cherries? This wonderful little fruit seems to have achieved the perfect balance between tartness and sweetness. It can be sheer bliss to bite into one of these bright red pieces of heaven—until you complete biting into the fruit, and end up cracking your teeth on one of the little pits. When that happens, it can be extremely easy forget why you liked the fruit in the first place.

Since this type of thing happens to just about everyone who has ever tried a freshly picked cherry, it is easy to see why pitless cherries are so favored. In fact it is a fairly common thing to wonder where pitless cherries come from, and if you can actually grow them yourself at home. Well, this two part question is rather easy to answer.

Simply put, pitless cherries (such as Maraschino cherries) are not grown. Rather they are made. Pitless cherries and other kinds of "stone" fruit (such as peaches, apricots, and plums) do not have a seedless variety. It has long been a dream of horticulturists around the world to develop a strain of pitless fruit, but unfortunately this dream has never reached fruition. So, for now, in order to be able to have your own pitless cherries you have two choices. Either go out and buy them, or you can do your own pitting.

Pitting cherries is something that is surprisingly easy, as long as you have the right pieces of equipment. The traditional way to pit cherries is through the use of a knife. However, there is an easier way. Just as with most any other job, there is actually a piece of equipment that you can use to make this task a little easier. In this case, the piece of equipment is (imaginatively enough) called a cherry pitter. To properly use a cherry pitter, you will need to do the following.

First, you will need to wash the cherries. No matter if you grew the cherries yourself, you should always wash your produce prior to eating it. This will remove any of the dirt, grime, or other nastiness that can end up causing you problems. After having thoroughly washed the cherries in warm water, you will need to remove the stems.

Once you have removed the stems from your cherries, grab your cherry pitter. Be sure that you are holding it with the flat disc end downwards, and the spike upwards. Place your cherry onto the flat disc, and then squeeze the handles closed. The spike will pierce the cherry, and push the pit through the other side. All that you have left to do now is sit back, and enjoy your tasty little treat.