What's the fastest way to hull a strawberry?

Question

I often need to hull and slice large batches of strawberries. But hulling by cutting a cone out of the top of the berry with a paring knife can be slow work. How can I quickly remove the core (the hard white part near the stem) from the strawberry?

What do professional chefs and kitchens do to quickly hull strawberries?

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered May 15 '12 at 19:00

I don't usually hull strawberries, but when I do I use a straw. The idea is that you push the straw up through the tip of the strawberry and it comes out at the stem. For pictures you can see http://amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.com/2010/06/hulling-strawberries-with-straw.html are just Google "hull strawberries with a straw"

score 4 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 09 '17 at 17:30

I always use a teaspoon to scoop out the green. Going any deeper than 5 mm is unnecessary anyway (it's only the green and the little stalk that are unpleasant), but you can go as deep as you like. It is fast and it works perfectly. You press the spoon's edge into your thumb, so to speak, with the strawberry in between. You can easily continue to hold it in the right position in your right hand while you pick up new strawberries with your left hand. When I found this out years ago, I couldn't understand why the whole world wasn't using this, just as with grating garlic. The only thing quicker than a teaspoon would be a teaspoon with thinner (= sharper) edges.

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Pictures from Thepioneerwoman.com

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 09 '17 at 17:30

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Never used it, but I'm assuming these exist for a reason: enter image description here

edited Mar 09 '17 at 17:30

Community

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answered May 15 '12 at 17:14

Tremmors

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score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 09 '17 at 17:30

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Alton Brown recommends a star-shaped tip from a pastry piping bag. He mentioned this in the Good Eats episode on strawberries, which has tons of good info on why hulling is important and the effects of not hulling.

piping bag star tips

edited Mar 09 '17 at 17:30

Community

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answered Jun 05 '12 at 15:15

paul

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score 0 · Answer 5 · edited May 18 '12 at 08:41

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Try using the small end of a melon baller (AKA Parisienne scoop).

edited May 18 '12 at 08:41

Mien

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answered May 17 '12 at 18:17

eych

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score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Mar 09 '17 at 17:30

All you really need to remove is the stem and leaves, so just a quick down and up cut (or a V, one cut from each side) will get it done, just wasting a little of the top of the berry on either side of the stem. I think it'll work better than using a spoon if you don't have a sharp/thin enough spoon and your berries are pretty ripe; otherwise they're roughly equivalent.

For another dedicated gadget option, a tomato/strawberry corer/huller:

strawberry huller

I tried my grandmother's a couple times; it works fine, though I'm personally happy with a paring knife and a tiny bit of waste.

score -1 · Answer 7 · answered May 06 '15 at 19:59

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I just did 16# today. I use a tomato shark. Doesn't waste the berry and takes out the green leaves at the same time. Costs $1.49.

answered May 06 '15 at 19:59

Rebecca

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What's the fastest way to hull a strawberry?

7 Answers7