HOW did I ever live my life without a cherry pitter? Cherries are my favorite fruits, after all. In the throes of summer canning, when cukes and zukes and summer fruits are piling up on the counter, pitting five pounds of cherries is time I can't afford to waste. SO...I researched the pitters available for Prime delivery, studied all the reviews good and bad, and broke down and got this one. The UPS guy timed it perfectly; I'd just finished a batch of marmalade and loaded the dishwasher and was ready to start another project. I ripped the box open immediately to the delight of my parrots. Now, at first I was taken aback, this thing is a LOT smaller than it looks in the picture. I was skeptical. Plus, the pitter didn't come with directions, but after looking at the parts and the box, I easily figured out what went where. (There are two rubber gaskety things, one is a spare.) Then I got my bowl of cherries. Twenty five minutes after taking the box from the UPS man, I had pitted almost four quarts of cherries (almost a gallon freezer bag). Yesterday I had started pitting by hand and in three hours had less than a half of a quart freezer bag full! As someone mentioned in another review, it took longer to remove the stems and load a handful of fruit into the little hopper than it did to pit. But once you get the hang of it, it's fast and easy. Every once in a while, a cherry would get stuck on the plunger, or bounce out unpitted, but since I was watching for them I was able to grab the unpitted and put it through again. You can't overload the hopper because there will be a cherry jam in no time and they won't feed through the chute. OH, and no one tells you about the splatter. Do this outside. LOL. I got up from pitting and it looked like I murdered someone with little bits of cherry meat and juice on the floor and cabinets. (I pitted on a slide-out cutting board and not a countertop.) Since this pitter is so small, you have to find a low-sided bowl or maybe even a pie pan for the pitted cherries to fall into. I didn't find it difficult to clean, I just slid out the red gasket, rinsed that, dunked the whole unit into a pot of sudsy water, and then rinsed under warm running water. Cleaned up well. Clean it immediately so the juice and bits of fruit do not dry on it. All in all, I am pleased with my purchase, and this has to be the fastest review I ever turned around on a product since it was delivered to my house less than an hour and a half ago. I wanted to write this out while my experience was still fresh. We'll see how it holds up over time. Four stars---taking away one for lack of instructions or any written anything in the package or box.
