How to remove the stones easily

About the tenacity of the plum stones

While the stone is relatively easy to remove from plums, it is usually stubborn and difficult to remove from the pulp of plums. It is strongly related to the fruit here. All too often hobby gardeners and cooks try to tear it out with force out of sheer impatience - and crush the plum in the process. To prevent this from happening to you, it is best to follow our tips.

The right time to stone plums

Pitting is easiest when the plums are ripe but not overripe. You can tell the degree of ripeness when you take the fruit in your hand and carefully press it - if it does not give way immediately, it is in excellent condition.

This makes pitting plums child's play

There are two ways to stone your plums:

• with a plum pitter
• by hand with a knife

Process the plums with a stoner

If you plan to use and consume plums more often, you are doing yourself a great favor by purchasing a stoner. Make sure that the device, which looks like a pair of tongs, is really intended for prunes and is of good quality. Solid versions are available from ten euros.

That's how it's done:

1. As a “stone catcher”, prepare a bowl to work over.
2. Place the plum lengthways in the tip of the tongs.
3. Squeeze the pliers together.
4. The stoner now bores through the plum and pushes the stone out.

Remove the stone from the plums by hand and a knife

If you rarely have plums at home, you can also choose the manual version. With the right approach, the effort and time required is almost as little as with a special pitter.

1. Wash the plums thoroughly.
2. Carefully dry the fruit with kitchen paper (so that the surface is no longer so smooth and slippery).
3. Take the first plum in one hand and a short paring knife in the other.
4. Put the knife on the tip of the plum.
5. Now cut all around in one go - along the notch up to the stone.
6. Turn the cut halves of the fruit against each other.
7. The stone loosens and falls out or can easily be removed by hand.
8. Repeat the process with all of the prunes.

Extra: Stone, do not core ...

Often people speak of “pitting” in connection with plums - a term that is misleading. Plums are stone fruits and therefore do not have a core, but a stone. So you should only talk about stoning.