One of the many wonderful things about living in Michigan is having access to delicious fresh fruit all summer long. Most people associate Michigan with cars and Motown (two things we do quite well) but don’t know how much fruit is produced across the state. The western part of the lower peninsula is referred to as the Fruit Belt and produces a third of the nation’s blueberries, almost 100,000 tons of grapes per year, and more cherries than any other state.
I visited one of our local farmers markets and picked up a quart of blueberries and a quart of Rainier cherries. Depending on what you pay for cherries in your neck of the woods, it might hurt you to know that a quart of fresh cherries at our farmers market only set me back $4!
When I sat down to use these cherries in a dessert, I found a helpful hack for pitting cherries without a dedicated cherry pitter. If you have a set of piping bag tips, you might already have the tool you need!
This is a Bismarck piping bag tip. Usually you would insert this into the end of a piping bag to pipe cupcakes or donuts full of filling. The slant tip and long barrel make it perfect for popping the pits out of cherries!
(My piping bag tips are a part of a Tupperware set, but the principle is the same.)
Push the Bismarck tip through the top of the cherry and straight out the other side. The pit should pop right out. It still takes a while, but the process goes much faster than dinking around with a paring knife forever.
Put on a little music and lay out a small bowl for pits and a larger bowl for the fruit. Before you know it, your cherries will be ready to go!
You can buy a Bismarck tip by itself, but if you do any baking, it is probably more cost effective to just buy a piping bag set. I have found a few on Amazon that would work perfectly. These are affiliate links so, if you choose to buy anything after visiting these links, I will get a small kick-back.
Did you like this post? Think it’s worth sharing? Please share with your friends using the social media share buttons at the bottom of the page!
Thanks, Jessica
Brilliant!!
We just use the reusable plastic straws that come with waste bottles or reusable plastic cups. Works like a charm.
*water bottles