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How to Spit a Cherry Pit

Torsten Rempt  / pixelio.de
The summer is here and thanks to the incredibly warm and sunny spring the cherry harvest is especially plentiful this year. There are more and bigger cherries than we usually have in Switzerland. Big, sweet and juicy cherries - just right for a cherry spitting contest!

Cherry Spitting Contests in Switzerland

Cherry spitting has been a tradition in Switzerland for as long as I can remember and most likely many generations before me. Cherry spitting contests are usually held in rural areas in combination with a farmers market or harvest feast. With some practice you can learn to spit cherry pits a few meters but to become Swiss champion you have to spit it really far. Only two weeks ago a new champion in cherry spitting was crowned in Switzerland. She managed to spit the cherry pit over 11 meters!

How to Spit a Cherry Pit

According to the expert cherry pit spitters, this is how to best spit a cherry pit:
  1. Take a tasty and juicy cherry and eat all the fruit. Leave the pit in your mouth. If kids are joining the fun, make sure they do not swallow the pit by mistake!
  2. With your tongue and teeth clean the pit from leftover bits of fruit. Do not use your hands!
  3. Place the pit on the tip of your tongue.
  4. Roll your tongue so that it forms a tube, sort of like a blowpipe.
  5. Take in a lot of air but be careful not to suck in the pit.
  6. Blow out all the air at once and try to make the opening in your mouth just big enough for the cherry pit to fly out!
  7. Measure how far the pit went!
Some people say that it won't help to roll your tongue and that spitting with a flat tongue will work better. For me, rolling works but feel free to try both ways. Also, instead of measuring how far the cherry pits flew you can try to spit them into buckets and count who lands the most in one bucket.

A game of cherry spitting is great fun on a summer day. For more ideas for fun things to do in Switzerland, check the list of 10 Fun Things to Do on a Sunny Day in Switzerland.

Have fun!



© 2011 IRENE WYRSCH "A HUMOROUS GUIDE TO SWITZERLAND" ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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