A friend (thank you, Julie!) offered her dad’s cherries to me the other day. The tree was loaded (actually overloaded – never seen anything like it!) with ripe, tasty cherries. My friend’s daughter helped me pick them. We basically grabbed handfuls at a time, there were so many. We filled three buckets in about 45 minutes.
Now, here’s the dilemma. I love fresh cherries, but you can only eat so much. We are not fans of cherry pie (texture issues probably), or really anything with smooshy cherries in them (cobblers, crisps, sauces) at my house.
But I never say no to free things, that’s part of my “cottage mentality.” And I’ve found the more you say “yes” to things offered to you, the more you are offered!
Well, I LOVE dried cherries, so I decided to try it, never having done so (though I’ve dried blueberries and tomatoes), and even though I think the ones they sell in the store are the tart pie cherries. Oh well.
Um, but I don’t have a pitter. The local store with the cheap pitters are sold out (everyone else’s trees are loaded, too, it seems). I have to wait a day until we go into town, hoping the cherries won’t go bad because some had a little mold and we were just throwing them in the buckets.
This is the not-so-frugal part.
I’m at Bed, Bath, and Beyond looking at the wall of kitchen gadgets. The cheapest one is $12.99. It pits one cherry at a time and you squeeze the handles together… One. At. A. Time.
I’m picturing the three buckets at home brimming with cherries. Ah, they’ve got my right where they want me.
And I couldn’t even find one of those 20% coupons that come EVERY WEEK in the mail!
I end up with this:
This puppy set me back $14.99, but that extra $2 was well-spent this time: FOUR AT A TIME! How sweet is that?
And, no carpel tunnel- you just close the lid all the way. My hand and wrist thank you, little gadget.
And when you open it, four little pits await you in the handy catch tray.
Please ignore the bluish-black stained thumbnail. Did you know that cherry juice stains look like dirt under your nails after it dries? The learning never stops, folks.
Two hours later, I was SO happy that the local store was sold out and I ended up at BBandB. Would I have been looking at 6 more hours doing one at a time? Who knows, but this was the best $14.99 I’ve ever spent (though it does pay to shop ahead and keep those coupons 
.
I was able to fit about almost 2 of the buckets into the food dryer.
And I’m freezing the smaller ones and ones I had to cut (no wasting here…) just like I do berries to add a few at a time to smoothies. I think the cherries will add a nice, sweet flavor to the berries I usually use.
I still have a large bowl full left that wouldn’t fit anywhere, and I could go back if I had the time…
-Jami
I believe a cottage can be anywhere or anything (condo, ranch, farmhouse) as long as you have a "cottage mentality" which puts people above things, celebrates imperfections, embraces simplicity, and finds joy in everyday life. Thanks for joining me!
I’m picking up a couple of pounds today (tomorrow maybe?) for canning amaretto cherries.
I use the regular pitter and it’s at least entertaining. Not much else.
I tried drying them and they tasted horribly like raisins
We have a HUGE black heart cherry tree on our property and the one time that we caught the cherries still on the tree. (birds love ‘em) we pitted and froze them to make cherry yum-yum and cherry cobbler (which you said you don’t like).
We also ate some in a fruit salad and even used some that were frozen in a fruit salad. My dad made wine out of some once. (not drinkers, but he used it for sauces). I hope we can catch them again this year cause we’re out.
Cherry syrup is yummy on pancakes and waffles!
Thanks for the ideas! I thought about a syrup, but was afraid it would remind me of cough medicine.
I should try it, though.
By the way, the cherries dried beautifully and while they’re not quite as good as the Montmorency pie-type, they are still yummy and will be great on granola for breakfast or in muffins.
I love buying cherries when they are on sale but sometimes we end up not getting to eat all of them because it takes so long to eat them due to the pits. I had no idea they actually make cherry pitters. I love dried cherries. I’ll have to try next year.