Over the weekend, I picked ten gallons of cherries. I had Dad lift me up in the bobcat to the tops of their three trees. The rest I could reach by standing on the camper shell of my old beater truck. The trees are loaded. Aunt Mary's two trees are full too. The problem with these kind of tart cherries, is they don't last very long after they are picked. I found out last year, if you leave them in a bucket in a hot garage, they will be brown by morning. Even in a refrigerator, you only have about 1-2 days. But you must remove the pit before you can freeze them. That takes time. Picking them is relatively easy. Pitting the cherries is...well, the pits. If I watch a 2-hour movie on DVD, I may have 5 quart freezer bags pitted at the end.
I may be running a few buckets over to Nora's Dad, who makes cherry wine.
I currently have two nights left before I go to Texas. There's ten gallons of unpitted cherries in the refrigerator and 14 quarts bagged in the freezer (my goal is 20 quarts). I have more cherries than I've got time to deal with them. I had a friend say to me, "Gosh I wouldn't even know how to pit a cherry." I asked if she would like to learn. She said, "No!" It's so hard to get good farm help these days.
.... so, just exactly how DOES one pit a cherry?..... I figure I'm safe... I'm in Tennessee......
Posted by: Eric | June 23, 2008 at 07:50 AM
My mom always used the curved end of a hairpin to pit the cherries..it's the only method I know. I'd gladly take some off your hands but I'm rather far away..drat.
Posted by: Annette | June 23, 2008 at 08:45 AM
They do look good!
I saw a hand tool at willams sonoma that supposedly pitted cherries but I don't think I have that kind of patience.
Posted by: hammer | June 23, 2008 at 09:48 AM
See you in Kerrville?
Posted by: Omnibus Driver | June 23, 2008 at 10:42 AM
Bring them to the blog meet it would be fun to see a bunch of drunk bloggers trying to figure out how to pit a cherry.
Posted by: becky | June 23, 2008 at 05:02 PM
they look awesome. i love cherries. the ones i buy at the store have pits. how do they last?
c'mon, farmboy skills test before you leave.
Posted by: SuperGurl | June 23, 2008 at 07:08 PM
They look so pretty! I've never been a big cherry fan, but I will eat cherry pie if that's all that is available. I have never pitted any though.
Posted by: Rachel | June 23, 2008 at 10:08 PM
I've always used a closed safety pin to pit cherries. You stick the end that doesn't open into the top of the cherry and scoop the seed out. It takes forever. I can't imagine pitting 10 gallons!
Posted by: terah | June 24, 2008 at 08:45 AM
The standard around here (for those without a hand crank stoner) is the non burn end of a kitchen match. They just push the pit on thru with the match.
I'll bet the lady didn't want to learn how to pod peas either. Smart lady.
Posted by: cliff | June 24, 2008 at 09:32 AM
I imagine you could use an olive pitter. Looks kinda like an oversized hole-punch.
Ever consider mashing up a bunch of those and soaking them in vodka for a couple of weeks? Might make for a fun blogmeet treat...
Posted by: El Capitan | June 24, 2008 at 04:41 PM
Wow! 10 gallons! And here I thought I was the lucky one, finding one lone tree in the middle of someone's yard during a walk. I've picked about two gallon's worth, pitting each one by hand with a knife. Anyone who tells you pitting cherries is easy has never done it!
So far I've made cherry crisp and a cherry clafouti. I've still got about a half-gallon in the freezer. I'm hoping to get one more gallon's worth from my lonely found tree, which will end up in a pie someplace down the road.
Did I mention that they taste DAMN GOOD?
Posted by: Kim | June 24, 2008 at 07:17 PM
I freeze several varieties of cherries every year. Bing and Rainier keep the best but pie cherries are a must to prep asap for freezing. And YES... I pit each cherry one by one with a 4 1/2 inch 20d nail.. (or spike) with a criss cross cut into the end for pitting
http://i30.tinypic.com/2587yw9.jpg
The one in the image is the same cherry pitter my grandpa made for me to use along side my grandma while helping her pit the gabillion cherries she used to do
Posted by: Anna | June 24, 2008 at 11:12 PM
This is indeed a bumper crop year. Your cherries look better than mine. I wish I had something to stand on to pick the higher up cherries, I almost fell off the ladder picking this week. I got about 16 cups worth, and many, many more on the tree to go yet! They are late this year I think. I stood by the kitchen sink for over two hours pitting them.
Hopefully we will have the annual Easter gathering in 2009 so you and Mary can make pies or cobblers for all of us.
Posted by: Cuz' Mary Anne | June 27, 2008 at 12:07 PM