Cherries and Cherry Pitters

If you cook with a lot of cherries (and when they’re in season I seem to make nothing but cherry desserts), you’ll need a good cherry pitter. The handheld models that look like a paper punch are adequate, but it still takes a lot of time to pit a couple of pounds of cherries. The best cherry pitter is a plastic box with a hopper and a plunger. The cherries are fed into the hopper and the plunger punches out the pits in a fraction of the time it takes with a handheld pitter. There is also a model without the box that attaches to the work counter with a clamp. The plunge-style cherry pitter is available at well-stocked kitchenware shops or by mail order from A Cook’s Wares and Sur La Table (Tools for the Cook). See Sources.