It's cherry season (somewhere – since I don't think cherries actually grow in the Arizona desert) because they are on sale at many of the local grocery stores going for as little as $1.27 a pound. My husband has brought home several pounds and they are huge and juicy and delicious.

Matthew has been helping me to pit them using our Progressive International GPC-5000 Cherry-It Multiple Cherry Pitter. I'd never actually used this tool myself but my husband taught Matt how to use it and we decided to put together a demonstration video to show how it works. Pay special attention to the hand washing segment and Matthew's comment. This is definitely one of the perks of having a child with Down Syndrome – they continue to say “cute things” as they become adults.

Here is the photo demonstration. First rinse your cherries.

Remove the stems. You will see there is a piece that lifts out of the cherry pitter. One end has four small cavities, while the other end has four larger cavities.

If your cherries are large, as were ours, position the insert so that the larger cavities are at the outer end of the cherry pitter. Insert your cherries as shown.

Now here's where it gets a little tricky. On the top part of the cherry pitter you must press the spring loaded piece and then lock it on the top. In this image you can see the locked and unlocked position. Please be aware that the pitter blades are quite sharp so watch your fingers as you hold it in to lock in place.

The cherry pitter is placed in the locked position while pressing down on the cherries. Then, while the lid is still down. unlock the device. The spring loaded piece then pops out and disengages the cherries from the sharp pitter blades.

Here is a closeup of the top and bottom of the cherries, once pitted.