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This is an oddball question but I am hoping someone can help me identify this device, which appears intended for use in a kitchen based on its location in a drawer full of other kitchen tools. As you can see it is about 4 inches long.

mystery kitchen device

jscs
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O.M.Y.
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3 Answers3

104

This is a cherry pitter. The metal ring holds the cherry while the piston forces the pit out right through the cherry.

Basil Bourque
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rackandboneman
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    Doh! Of course it is. :) Actually I never saw one of these before but now that you describe its function it makes perfect sense. – O.M.Y. Apr 22 '17 at 15:43
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    I'm guessing it's not that familiar to most people nowadays since most use cherry pie filling or buy canned pitted sour cherries. It works well but I remember how sore and tired my hand was after pitting enough cherries for a pie! – Jude Apr 23 '17 at 09:19
  • @Jude - Out of curiosity does the cherry have to be in a specific orientation for this device to work or can you just drop one in any-which-way? – O.M.Y. Apr 23 '17 at 21:48
  • It'll probably work best if it's oriented so that the plunger is going through where the stem was, @O.M.Y., although up or down doesn't matter. – jscs Apr 23 '17 at 22:26
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    I was considering modifying the barrel & hopper of an old paintball gun and adding a cam-driven "plunger" to push out the pit to make an automated one of these. Not sure how I would eject the empty cherry, yet. – O.M.Y. Apr 23 '17 at 22:58
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    Cherry-rigged solutions ... and why do they always put two non-pitted cherries in every jar of pitted ones? – rackandboneman Apr 24 '17 at 06:55
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    @O.M.Y. : while I'm all for tinkering, be aware that there exist electric cherry pitters as well :). There are also more elaborate and larger ones, with a more ergonomic plunger, that you might easier to adapt automation-wise. – mikołak Apr 24 '17 at 10:41
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    Wow, it's a very old-school cherry pitter! Newer single-cherry, manual pitters are often shaped more like paper staplers and are much easier on the hands. I was gifted a no-name knockoff of this one and it's quite nice to use. – SevenSidedDie Apr 24 '17 at 17:49
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_pitter – Richard Apr 25 '17 at 17:18
17

Also seen to be used as an olive pitter. Same solution, similar problem.

LCFoodExperts
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4

Cherry or olive pitter: first two fingers trough the side loops, thumb through the center loop, raise the plunger and insert the fruit pole to pole at the bottom and depress the plunger

fmo
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