The internet has proven once again that it can teach even the most brilliant minds — and talented cooks — something they didn’t know.
On July 5, "Top Chef" host and author Padma Lakshmi shared a viral TikTok showing a peach-pitting hack from user @loriwoosley. In the clip, which has over 964,000 views on TikTok, Lori Woosley-Uden uses a pair of pliers to easily pull a pit from a whole peach, in a one mesmerizingly swift motion.
“Omg this kitchen hack!!” Lakshmi excitedly tweeted. “Has anyone tried this??”
“This looks amazing,” replied one Twitter user.
"I’m dead...and illuminated!" chef Jet Tila commented on her Instagram.
“Amazing. I’m about to get 25 lbs from The Peach Truck on Wednesday. Can’t wait to try this. Hope it works on Georgia peaches,” said another user. But not everyone was as excited about the hack as most.
“No Pad, pliers are unhygienic,” said another user on Twitter, but another user responded to him and other doubters of the hack’s sanitary safety by pointing out there are stainless steel fishbone pliers used for removing bones from fish that could be used for this exact purpose.
Over the weekend, Lakshmi was inspired to try the hack herself, so she took to Instagram to share her experience with her 1.3 million followers — to great success.
“So let’s try this hack I posted,” Lakshmi said in the video as she dug her tool into a peach before successfully removing its pit in the same swift motion. She then shows off that the pit-free peach is still fully intact, perhaps ready for a grilled peach Melba or for blending into a summertime smoothie.
“Shush I’m doing a video!” Lakshmi says with a giggle, playfully quieting someone off-camera who was talking while she performed the hack. “And yes, we washed and sterilized these needle-nose pliers first,” she clarifies.
For all the doom scrolling, sad headlines and other negatives the internet often brings us, there are clear benefits to the web's free exchange of ideas, like this hack direct from a "former corporate project manager" turned social-media tip-giver.
In fact, Woosley-Uden, who shared the original hack, thanked the world-famous culinary icon for sharing her hack in the first place.
“Woohoo... i am honored you shared my TT! Thank you!” Woosley-Uden replied to Laskhmi on Twitter. We’re glad she did too — because now we know how to easily prepare our summer fruit hauls for a cobbler or two.
