3 Best Ways To Pit Olives: Ultimate How To Guide

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Whether you want to make brined olives or you want to make olive oil at home, you should first remove pits from the olive fruit. Even though it’s not hard to do it, not many people know the right and effective ways of pitting olives.

Today, I’ll show you three quick and easy methods for removing olive pits at home. I’ve tried all of them, and honestly, 1st one seems easiest for the majority of people, even though I was the quickest with the 3rd one.

What’s The Best Way To Remove Olive Pits?

lady shows how to pit olives

If your olives still have their pits within, you might be struggling to figure out how to get them out. Olive pitting is actually very simple, and here I’ll show you how to do it in three different methods below.

1. By Using Olive Pitter

Use a handheld olive pitter if you have one; it’s the finest choice. Removing the pits can save you time and ensure that the olives are in good shape with the least amount of damage to the olives.

Westmark Olive Pitter Aluminum Coated (Retro)

At the end of the olive pitter, put the olive safely within the tiny bowl. At the opposite end, squeeze the handles. This makes a little hole in the olive’s tip. Squeeze the handles repeatedly until the pit is ejected from the punched hole and falls to the bowl’s base. When you release the handle, the pit will fall out, and you may remove it after dropping the loose fruit into a different bowl.

But if you find pitting with a hand pitter too difficult or time-consuming, you can try the Kitalma Cherry & Olive Pitter Tool . This olive pitting machine can pit seven olives at once, which can be time-saving. Additionally, this device keeps your kitchen tidy and clear of clutter. If you have a frequent need to pit olives fast, think about using this olive-pitting machine.

2. Removing Pits Using a Knife

If you don’t have an olive pitter, you can use a knife to remove the olive pits. Instead of using the knife’s cutting edge to cut into the olives, use the flat side of the blade. If you don’t have a chef’s knife, you can use any other item with a flat, firm surface.

This process does require squashing the olive, so it might be preferable to start by doing one at a time. To prevent a mess on your counter, place the olive on a cutting board. Press down on the olive with the chef’s knife’s flat surface. You’ll notice the olive’s pit start to pop out.

Keep applying pressure to the olive as you tenderly draw the knife in your direction. As a result, the olive will roll, and the pit will be easier to remove. If the pit still doesn’t pop out of the olive, pull it open with your fingertips. But try to remove the pit from the olive without damaging it.

When using this technique, use caution because the pit may shatter if you apply too much pressure.

3. Using a Pan To Remove Olive Pits

Flat-bottomed cookware makes excellent makeshift pitters for olives. It could seem like a quick solution to remove pits to use a heavy stainless-steel pot, saucepan, or frying pan to split open multiple olives at once. But olives should only be squeezed one at a time because squeezing so many with a saucepan or frying pan could cause them to fly across your kitchen with their pits still attached.

Use a stainless-steel pot, saucepan, or frying pan to gently press the olive onto a wooden cutting board, as we did with the knife. Release your pressure on the pan until you see a brown pit starting to emerge, then take it out by hand.

Is Removing Olive Pits Hard?

olives in a bowl ready to be pitted

Fortunately, pitting olives at home is surprisingly simple. Luckily, numerous methods are available, ranging from using your fingertips to using electric gadgets. It makes pitting olives at home quite simple and hassle-free.

To complete the task, you merely need to adhere to certain techniques. You can try the second method if the first one doesn’t work for you.

Final Words

There are a lot more ways to pit olives at home, but we’ve listed the top three. You could spend money on a handheld pitter or gamble on an automatic electric device. To do the task, you could also choose to employ one of the many typical kitchen and home appliances. However, the cultivar and degree of olive ripeness will determine the proper procedure to use.

Also, don’t throw olive pits immediately. There are many interesting things you can do with olive pits, so make sure to check that out! 😀