Every year we get asked if we sell cherry pitters. Unfortunately, we don’t, we can’t compete with the box stores. I thought I would give our customers some options that can be easily obtained on Amazon, along with some feedback. In my lifetime, I’ve literally pitted hundreds of pounds of cherries, so I am well versed in what works, what takes forever and what I prefer to use.
There are lots of ways of pitting cherries. My great-grandmother used to use a hair pin. It works, but it is really hard on the hands. You can also slice them and pop out the seed with the tip of the knife – this is very messy!
Pitters come in a variety of styles, some are more effective than others.
The simplest type is the hand held “puncher” type. These are hard on the hands after a while but will do just fine. They are also inexpensive. They can get really “gummy” with the juice, so you will need to periodically rinse it well, during the pitting process.
The next kind is the multi-cherry pitter. This is the one I personally have and use. I like it because I can do four cherries at a time. It is fairly quick, has a container to keep the pits and is pretty accurate in getting the pits. I like that it disassembles easily and is easy to clean. It also has various size “cups” for different sized cherries. It makes pitting fairly quick.
There is also this style:
The last pitter has some issues, but is a fast pitter. It doesn’t work well with pie cherries, very small cherries or very large cherries. Meaning, you will have to check them for pits. I do this anyway, because no pitter is perfect. You still need to verify the pit has been removed, or you risk breaking a tooth, either on you, or someone else. Better safe than sorry! It is still the fastest way to go for sweet cherries. The other downside is the cost. It is spendy. But if you do a lot of canning, it is well worth the time it will save you!
(Please note, this post does contain affiliate links – if you end up buying one of these pitters from one of these links, we will make a small commission. It in no way changes what we think of these pitters.)