SC - de-pitting olives?

[Anne-Marie Rousseau]

hey all from Anne-Marie

I am asked: 
>> I was wondering why they didnt just use one of those cherry pitter gizmos
>> (I guess that depends on the size of the olive, of course....)
>
>Thats part of what I was wondering. I've never seen nor heard of a
>cherry pitter gizmo. Are these like little spoons?

there's these thingies that you clamp on the edge of your counter. There's
a funnelly bit and a plunger bit. The cherries go in the hopper/funnel and
end up going single file down the chute where when you hit the plunger it
pops out the pit. the pitted cherries go down one chute to your work bowl
and the pits go down another chute into another bowl. They tend to be cheap
and plastic, and I always got stuck doing that job in canning season as a kid.

here's an example of one (a very expensive one...they're usually about $12)

http://www.homecanning.com/usa/ALOrder.asp?CAT=479&P=1797

You can find 'em in catelogs like King Arthur Flour, Cumberland General
Store, etc. 

>> good luck! olives are one of Gods perfect foods....(real olives, not the
>> black things in cans from California)
>
>Some I've tasted were interesting. Some were awlful. I think one of the
>recipes did call for canned black olives.
>
>Are most olives just eaten straight from the jar/can where you just
>chew the olive and spit out the pit? Maybe we need seedless olives
>like we now have seedless grapes and seedless watermelons. Although
>I will admit the seeded watermellons seem to have more taste.

That's usually what I do for antipasto trays. I can buy already pitted
Kalmata olives (the black greek ones in red wine vinegar. yum!) in my local
grocery store for cooking, though.

hope this helps!
- --AM