After spending over 6 hours hulling tray after tray of strawberries we can safely say that the Chef’n StemGem is the best all-round strawberry huller. Also good is the Joi MSC Huller, which allowed us to remove the stem faster than any other Huller. And if you also wanted to remove the core of the strawberry then the Tovolo Huller is your only option.
If you have ever had to prepare mass amounts of strawberries you will know how tedious removing the stem can be.
While you can simply cut across the top of a strawberry with a knife, this removes a lot of strawberry flesh and is particularly wasteful.
That’s where strawberry hullers come in. A strawberry huller is a purpose-made tool just for removing the stem and leaves from strawberries while leaving behind the bulk of the flesh.
So join us as we reveal our favorite strawberry hullers as well as explain how to best use them.
Comparison Chart
Chef’n StemGem – Best Claw Strawberry Huller
The StemGem is like a claw-machine for strawberries. The StemGem was a favorite amongst our testers. Not only because it was effective but fun as well.
Testers were able to quickly and efficiently use the Chef’n StemGem to hull bulk quantities of strawberries with little to no downtime.
And best of all it’s kid safe. The best way to encourage young children to eat well is to make healthy eating fun. And the Chef’n Stem Gem does just that, removing stems and leaves in an efficient but fun way.
Using the Chef’n Stem Gem is as simple as follows:
1. Get set – Press the green button on the rear of the StemGem to open up the claw. Open the claw just wide enough that it can grab the stem of the strawberry.
2. Push – Push the Chef’n huller into the flesh of the strawberry. With the claw inside the strawberry release the button
3. Twist and Pull – Give the strawberry huller a twist so that the claws tear the strawberry, cutting a circle in the flesh. Then simply pull the stem gem up to remove the stem and leaves. Press the button to release and repeat on the next strawberry.
For best results when cleaning the StemGem, rinse it under warm water after user. You don’t want to give the strawberry juice a chance to dry and harden, making cleaning difficult.
Above you can see the finished product. A hulled strawberry with the stem and flesh removed by the StemGem beside it. The larger cavity left inside the stawberry is just perfect for filling with whipped cream!
Claw Style Strawberry Huller Runner-ups
Unfortunately, not all claw-style strawberry hullers we tested were winners. The following fell short in one way or another:
Comparison Chart
Oxo Good Grips Twist and Pop Strawberry Huller – Normally we love Oxo products. Unfortunately this one fell short. Firstly, you cannot control how far the claw blades open up. This left testers completely gutting the inside of smaller strawberries. We also found that the OXO had a tendency to slice leaves when we twisted, leaving small leaves behind on the strawberry which needed to be removed. Firm strawberries were also a no-go. OXO’s one advantage is that it can be taken apart for cleaning.
Progessive Push ‘N Spin Strawberry Huller – A terrible product. When used on firm strawberries the blade would spin and splatter the strawberry. When used on soft strawberries the blade was so blunt that it struggled to cut through the flesh. If you do manage to cut through the flesh you will then have to remove the hull from the strawberry with your fingers since this huller does not remove it for you.
Joi MSC – Best Strawberry Huller for Speed
When it came to hulling strawberries, no other huller did it quicker than the Joi MSC. If you are hulling hundreds of strawberries to make jam then this tool will allow you to scoop out the hulls quicker than any other.
It is worth mentioning that scoop hullers leave the most flesh behind when removing the stalk of the strawberry. If you absolutely hate waste then this is the huller for you.
Overall what impressed us the most was the sturdy design. The scoop was able to work on the toughest of strawberries without bending or flexing.
Even better, you can also use the Joi MSC as a tomato huller. The sharp teeth are just as effective at piercing the waxy skin of a tomato.
Using the Joi MSC strawberry huller was a simple process:
1. Position – Place the teeth of the scoop just below where the leaves join the strawberry.
2. Apply Pressure – Push into the flesh of the strawberry with a scooping motion
3. Remove – In the same motion, lift upwards as soon as the teeth of the scoop break the skin of the strawberry on the other side, completely removing the leaves and stalk from the strawberry.
The process works best when you hold the strawberry in one hand and the scoop huller in the other. By working over a bin or trash can you will quickly be able to discard the hull with one hand while picking up the next strawberry with the other for quick and efficient hulling.
As you can see above, scoop hullers leave the most flesh behind, removing the stem with minimal strawberry attached. Perfect for those of you who want to keep as much of the strawberry as possible.
Strawberry Scoop Huller Runner-ups
Comparison Chart
Kuchenprofi Strawberry Huller – A gorgeous stainless steel design hampered by light-duty metal being used for the scoop. The neck bends and flexes as you press the scoop into the strawberry.
NorPro Strawberry Corer – This dual purpose strawberry/tomato corer is too big for strawberries. The large scoop head removed too much flesh.
Kuhn Rikon Strawberry Knife – A two in one pocket knife featuring a knife on one end and a strawberry scoop on the other. The strawberry scoop bends too easily and the plastic handle that the two ends fold up into is awkward to hold.
HIC Strawberry Corer – Teeth are quite blunt and the light duty steel bent easily
Winco Stem Corer – The teeth were not sharp enough to effectively cut the flesh, instead tearing it resulting in a juicy mess.
Tovolo – Best Strawberry Huller for Core Removal
But what if you also want to remove the core of the strawberry?
That’s where Tovolo’s unique strawberry huller comes in. Not only does it remove the leaves, and stem of the strawberry but the entire core too. Think of it as a strawberry pitter.
Using the Tovolo strawberry huller is easy as this:
1. Line up the tube – Place the tube of the Tovolo strawberry huller in the middle of the base of the strawberry. The tube should line up with the center of the stem at the top.
2. Push! – Apply pressure so that tube pierces the skin of the strawberry. Keep the huller straight as possible.
3. Pop! – Keep pushing until you see the strawberry stem and leaves pop off the top of the strawberry. Remove the stem and core from the tube and repeat on your next strawberry.
As you can see, the Tovolo strawberry huller removes the stem, leaves and core of the strawberry in a single piece. If you cut the strawberry in half you can see the white flesh of the core has been removed.
It took a couple of practice cores before testers completely got the hang of using the Tovolo Strawberry Huller.
It is worth mentioning that this huller is better suited to big plump store-bought strawberries over smaller home-grown ones. This is because the huller also removes the core of the strawberry and smaller strawberries have less flesh to spare.
The only real alternative to the Tovolo strawberry huller is to use a plastic drinking straw. However we found that while a drinking straw would work fine for a small tray of strawberries, it would bend and tear when the time came to hull bulk quantities.
Strawberry Huller Tongs
Out of all the different types of strawberry hullers we tested, the tong style was our least favorite. Some tongs were tensioned too tightly, which made them stiff and difficult to use. Others were too easy to squeeze, which allowed testers to squash the flesh of the strawberry, squeezing out the juice and making a mess.
Interestingly, the tong hullers that performed the best, the Tupperware and the Spee-Dee strawberry hullers, are no longer commercially available. While these can be picked up second hand on eBay and Etsy, you are paying top dollar for what is essentially a second hand strawberry huller.
Out of the current commercially available tong hullers, the Casabella huller performed the best but the bar was set low and we recommend it with reservations.
The tongs are a little on the stiff side and the thicker plastic made it somewhat difficult to twist the stalk out of the strawberry.
Tong Strawberry Runner-ups
Like I said, the bar was low and use the term “runner-up” loosely. The strawberry hullers below are comparatively awful.
Comparison Chart
Zyliss Strawberry Huller – There is no denying that the Zyliss strawberry huller can do it’s job. It’s just that this little tool appears to be made for a strongman. The device is so stiff that it requires a lot of hand strength to use. Definitely not suited for those with arthritis. The tong ends could not pluck the stem out of a strawberry in a single motion and would often require a second attempt.
Fox Run Strawbeery Huller – Cheap chinese trash. The metal is too flimsy to effortlessly pierce the soft flesh of a strawberry. If you do manage to get the huller into position you will likely find that it is unable to properly grip the strawberry stem. While Fox Run claims the strawberry huller is stainless steel, ours have since rusted. Most annoyingly is that this huller resembles an amazing huller your grandmother would have used, the USA made Spee-Dee strawberry huller. This is just a cheap imitation.
Norpro 5127 Strawberry Huller with Finger Grip – More flimsy metal trash. The light duty metal bends far too easily. After just a couple the soft flesh of strawberries bent the metal outwards.
RSVP Strawberry Huller – While it worked a little better than the other metal tong-style strawberry hullers in this group ,the RSVP doesn’t feel sturdy and is still far from perfect. The strawberry shaped ends dig too fat down into the fruit removing more flesh than we would have liked but at least it could remove the stem and leaves. Not suitable for small sized strawberries.
PROfreshionals Strawberry Huller – Whoever designed this deserves a smack to the back of the head. This “strawberry huller” is incapable of performing the job that it was designed to do. Not only is it too big to be practical but the sharp ends cut the leaves and stem rather than remove them.
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