Cherry season is short, and if you’ve ever tried pitting a big bowl by hand with a paring knife, you know how it goes: juice everywhere, purple fingers, and a countertop that looks like a crime scene. There’s a reason most people who bake with cherries regularly eventually give in and buy a dedicated pitter.
The OXO Good Grips Cherry & Olive Pitter is built around a simple idea: a spring-loaded plunger pushes the pit straight through the fruit and out the bottom, so you’re not sawing or squeezing anything. The cup is generously sized, big enough for Bing and Rainier cherries, but it’s also recessed so smaller cherries don’t just slide around loose. That’s the part a lot of cheaper pitters get wrong, they’re built for one cherry size and struggle with anything else.
The bit that actually solves the mess problem is the removable splatter shield. Without it, pitting is basically flicking juice at your shirt one cherry at a time. With it clipped on, the juice stays contained instead of spraying across your counter and cabinets. It pops off for cleaning too, and the whole thing is dishwasher safe, so you’re not scrubbing pit debris out of tiny crevices by hand.
It locks closed for storage, which matters more than it sounds like. An unlocked pitter with an exposed spring is an easy way to stab yourself digging through a drawer. And it’s not just for cherries; it handles most olive varieties too, so it earns its cupboard space beyond a few weeks of cherry season.
If you’re making jam, a clafoutis, or just want a bowl of pitted cherries for snacking without ruining your hands, this is the kind of gadget that goes from nice to have to why didn’t I buy this years ago the first time you use it.
