How To Hull Strawberries With A Straw - America's Test Kitchen

If you have a recipe that requires scores of strawberries, prepping them can take a lot of time. Using a paring knife requires cutting into the flesh of the berry, removing the stem, often making a mess. You might even lose perfectly good strawberries in the process.

We found a technique to simultaneously hull and de-stem strawberries using an unlikely tool you already have in your kitchen. Say you’re making our Strawberry Stack Cake, a recipe which calls for 2½ pounds of fresh strawberries—this method is a real time saver. It’s three times as fast as using a paring knife, in my experience.

The secret? A straw.

(Note: Not every straw works. You've got to find the right one. But when you do, you’ll never go back to using a paring knife again.)

1. Pull the leaves upward in one direction.
2. Hold the strawberry in your non-dominant hand and line up the hole of the straw with the end of the receptacle (the pointy bit).
3. Apply pressure to the straw but take care not to bruise the flesh of the berry by squeezing.
4. Push the straw through the berry, holding the top with your index finger.
5. Once you feel the straw at the stem, gently twist while pushing through the berry.
6. With a bit of practice, all the leaves will come off with the hull attached, and the entire center can be removed.

• This method works best with plastic and reusable metal straws.
• The straw hole should be the same size or larger than the berry stem. This will make it easier to remove all the leaves at once.
• Use smaller straws for smaller berries.

These five recipes are among our all-time strawberry favorites. Start a free trial to access all these, plus our other home kitchen–tested, foolproof recipes.

• Strawberry, Lime, and Basil Pavlova with Whipped Cream
• Strawberry Cream Cake
• Strawberry Galette with Candied Basil and Balsamic
• Fresh Strawberry Pie
• Strawberry Dream Cake