"Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are."

Saturday, August 6, 2011

The "Pits"

Last week SM had a gout flare.  He manages avoiding gout through exercise and diet but usually will have a flare or two a year when the seasons change.  SM drinks a cocktail of apple cider vinegar, honey and water.  He also finds that eating cherries helps.  I noticed Bing cherries last week at the store and picked some up "on sale" for 3.99 a pound.

The circulars this week were advertising Bing cherries and I noticed one store (that I never shop) had them for $2.77 a pound.  I told SM today that I wanted to buy some up for fresh eating and also to freeze.

We stopped by the store and walked in to find those advertised cherries offered at $1.99 a pound.

SCORE!



So I bought 12 pounds.  Now that's a lot of cherries.

I sat down and started pitting by hand with a knife.  After 3 pounds, my hands were purple and cramping up.  I mentioned to SM that today just might be the day to buy a cherry pitter.

SM looked them up on the Internet...none made me happy.  And then SM found this video on You Tube on how to make a homemade cherry pitter

So I grabbed an old fork and SM bent it down for me.



Here he is trying it out.  



The video suggests to go in from the bottom, but SM found (after a learning curve) that it's way easier to pull the stem off and go in from the top.  He's SO enthused by his new creation that he's been standing there pitting cherries the whole time I've been typing up this post.  (And I'm not a fast typer.)

Ssh.  I might sneak off and go take a nap now.  All this food preservation is hard work.   (BIG grin  @:)

5 comments:

  1. Tammi: The new header is beautiful! And I am so jealous of cherries at $1.99! I was lucky enough to get a few pounds from one of my market vendors. I bought a flat from another produce vendor for $20. But I could use another 20 pounds...I love cherries and I love cooking with them.

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  2. Clever way to pit the cherries-I'm going to give this a shot. I'd love to freeze some, but so hate the pitter I have.

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  3. I can honestly say I've never had a fresh cherry, aside from the ubertart ones that grew on a tree at my old homeplace. SM sounds like one smart cookie!

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  4. Very clever. Someone, MamaPea?, was just mentioning a cherry pitter. I don't have enough cherries yet to worry about this but hopefully someday! I've heard the same thing about cherries for gout. Also cherry juice.

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  5. What a great price for cherries! Is there nothing you can't find on YouTube? Fabulous!

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