NounVerbDesign

At the Hallmark store, June reliably means dads, grads, and weddings. In my case that’s two out of three (I did get married one June, and I just graduated from an MFA program this month; but my dad isn’t around anymore to present with an unlovely tie). To the short list of June’s notable events I propose one that deserves its own celebratory greeting card: the arrival of sour cherries. There is no year-round availability for these ruby beauties; they have a brief early-summer season and once it’s over? Look in the freezer case, or wait till next year. When I spy them at the greenmarket piled high in paperboard pints with tiny green leaves fetchingly peeking out, as if under a spell I automatically say, “Pie,” and buy two and a half pounds. Where there’s cherries, there’s pits, and here’s where the gadgets come in.

Photo: KCIvey, http://bit.ly/d2y1F6

At the Hallmark store, June reliably means dads, grads, and weddings. In my case that’s two out of three (I did get married one June, and I just graduated from an MFA program, but my dad isn’t around anymore to present with an unlovely tie). To the short list of June’s notable events I propose one that deserves its own celebratory greeting card: the arrival of sour cherries. There is no year-round availability for these ruby beauties; they have a heartbreakingly brief season. By early July you can find them only in the freezer case. When I spy sour cherries at the greenmarket, as if under a spell I mumble, “Pie,” and automatically buy two and a half pounds. And where there’s cherries, there’s pits. Here’s where the design gadgets come in.

It’s hard to believe how many design variations exist for cherry pitters—devices meant to do one thing and one thing only. I am not road-testing these for actual ease of use; I’m more interested in the range of appearances at differing price points. All will get the job done, with varying levels of volume, speed, automation and efficiency—but the device itself should be beautiful, at least, if it’s going to languish 49 weeks a year taking up valuable space in your kitchen drawer or cabinet.

Photos via amazon.com

The Stainless Steel Cherry Pitter from KegWorks, $299, is not fooling around. This baby can handle a pound of cherries a minute. Its industrial appearance would blend perfectly with the Subzero/commercial stove aesthetic so prevalent in today’s luxury condo kitchens. And like that 8-burner stove, it will probably go unused 99% of the time. Now if you owned a cherry farm…

Confession: there was a silhouetted image of the Westmark Cherry Pitter, $62, available but I couldn’t resist the hokey charm of this ad. It is meant to handle 30 lbs. of cherries/hour, or half the more expensive KegWorks machine’s output. Its much lower price reflects this reduced volume as well as the percentage of plastic in its makeup. But its prosaic look won’t win it any design awards, and it’s hard to imagine someone buying this as a show-off gadget. Like trying to impress the neighbors with your new Kia.

This exceedingly simple hand-held device requires patience: it pits one cherry at a time, so speed of operation depends on the skill and patience of the cook. Part of the Swiss DallaPiazza’s company’s extensive line of kitchen wares, as a design object it scores high for its streamlined Midcentury gorgeousness. Definitely a show-off gadget, on a small scale. And the price isn’t bad, either: $15.

Apparently OXO needs to manufacture a Good Grips version of everything in the entire world, including this $12.50 cherry pitter. Promotional copy makes much of the plastic splatter shield that directs juices away from the work area. How much of a problem is a juicy work area, really, considering the nature of the task? Design improvement to be filed under dubious usefulness. The overall appearance of the thing is consistent with the rest of the Good Grips wares but for about the same price, the Dalla Piazza pitter provides a much more stylish option.

This HandHeld Cherry Pitter is the little gizmo that couldn’t. I mean, sure, it must get the pits out of the cherries—but what a design failure. It looks like a plucked chicken. Even the color of the plastic is just sad. But the price, $3, can’t be beat. Or….can it?

Photo: Angela Riechers

Here’s what I use. It costs less than one penny. If you want to get fancy you can straighten out one end and stick it in a wine cork to make a handle (you know, the cork that was in the bottle you used to roll out the piecrust). Design bonus: paper clips are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Pros: It takes up next to no space, can be made in under a minute and is disposable. Cons: it does not catch pits or redirect juices. Handles approximately 3 lbs. of cherries per hour unless the chef happens to be drinking the wine, in which case the process may take a bit longer.

Tags: cherry pitter, industrial design, pie

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 27th, 2010 at 5:23 pm and is filed under Food, Gadgets, industrial design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.