How To Easily Pit Stone Fruits Like A Pro
If you think twice about buying certain fruits due to their level of difficulty in preparing or cutting, you're not alone. There are just some fruits that are easier to eat than others. For example, your banana-eating habits may have tripled since you discovered the correct way to peel the soft yellow fruit. Yet there are still some of nature's candy varieties that present a quandary in terms of preparation. If you have an epic fruit salad recipe in your future, you may avoid certain fruits, such as apricots or peaches, due to the pesky stones that live inside these summertime delicacies.
Stone fruits or drupes are fruits classified by the pit or stone located in the middle of each fruit. Classic stone fruits we all know and love include nectarines, dates, coconuts, and even blackberries. While you can eat the "stones" or seeds of blackberries, some drupes need to be removed during or before consumption. And admittedly, some pits are easier to remove than others.
You might already know how to pit cherries using a plastic straw, but what about larger fruits, such as peaches and nectarines? Sure enough, there's one way to pit these larger fruits that will have you reaching for them without trepidation long into the summer months.
The right way to pit stone fruits
If you already know how to pit cherries easily, there has to be a foolproof way to pit larger stone fruits with ease. Out of all the drupes available at your nearest supermarket, some might argue that mangoes are the most difficult to prepare, as there are so many ways to peel and dice this tropical fruit. Because mangoes have a thin, almost rectangular pit, you can either cut off the sides of the fruit or slice in small chunks directly in the peel. Alternatively, when you're dealing with classic summertime staples, such as peaches and nectarines, there is one easy, streamlined method for pitting you must try.
When you're in the mood to chow down on a peach or plum, first cut around the outer exterior of the fruit with your knife along the inner core, the way you would with an avocado. Then, simply twist each side of the fruit in different directions to release one side from the pit. Once you have the two halves separated, you can cut away the stone with a paring knife.
If the pit isn't freeing itself as easily as you'd like, cut the half that has the pit into sections and gently remove each piece until the remaining fruit slices are separated from the inner stone completely. Even though this pitting method may be the most well-known and easiest to follow, there are many other creative ways to pit stone fruits.
Other ways to pit your favorite summer fruits
If you find yourself buying a few crates of peaches this summer, you're probably going to want to test out a few different methods of pit removal before committing to the most convenient way. Luckily, Cook's Illustrated tested four of the most popular methods to see which ones were the most efficient. While Cook's Illustrated stands by cutting fruit along the seam at the stone horizontally as opposed to vertically, the twist method, in general, seems to work best for fruit that needs to remain unbruised and eaten raw, as opposed to fruits being processed for jam.
The methods that take a little extra elbow grease and leave unwanted marks are the pliers method, which originally became popular through TikTok, and the chopstick method. For the former, you use a pair of pliers to grab the stone from the inside of a fruit and remove it in one fell swoop. For the latter technique, you simply push a chopstick through the end of your fruit and the pit should come out the other end.
While these methods work for certain stone fruits, they're best for fruits that will be chopped and turned into a peach custard pie recipe or homemade apricot-filled cookies. If you want a tried-and-true method of pitting your favorite fruits this summer, stick to the habit of cutting along the seam with the inner pit as your guide.