I used to hull strawberries with a paring knife. Every June, same ritual: cut around the green cap, scoop out the white core, toss half the berry in the process. My wrist hurt. My counter looked like a crime scene.

Then my friend’s six-year-old showed me the straw trick. A six-year-old. I had been doing it wrong for twenty years.

What “hulling” actually means

Hulling is just removing the green leafy cap and the tough white core underneath. A knife works, sure. But it wastes fruit. With a straw, you push through from the bottom and the hull pops right out the top. No knife. No waste. No red-stained fingers.

How to do it in five seconds

1. Grab a sturdy straw. A reusable one works best — silicone or metal. A regular plastic straw works too but may bend.
2. Hold the strawberry upside down — tip pointing down, green cap facing up.
3. Push the straw through the bottom tip and keep pushing straight up through the center.
4. The hull pops out the top. Green cap, white core, all in one clean push.

That is it. A six-year-old can do it. I timed myself: four seconds per berry, versus fifteen with a knife. For a batch of two pounds, that is the difference between five minutes and twenty.

What I got wrong the first few times

I shoved the straw through at an angle and it came out the side. Straight up, not diagonal. Also, overripe berries turn to mush — use this trick on firm, just-ripe strawberries. If the berry squishes when you hold it, it is a knife job.

One more thing: the straw needs to be wider than a coffee stirrer. A boba straw is perfect. A regular drinking straw is fine. The tiny red ones that come with juice boxes? Do not bother.

Other fruits this works on

Cherry tomatoes, especially the small ones. Push the straw through and the stem scar pops out. Works for removing olive pits too if you do not own a pitter. I have not tried grapes but my neighbor swears by it.

The first time I did this in front of my partner, she stared at me for a solid five seconds. “Where did you learn that?” “A child,” I said. She has not touched a paring knife for strawberries since.

When a knife is still better

• Very large strawberries — the core is too wide for a straw to grab all of it
• Making stuffed strawberries — you want a hollow center, not a clean tunnel
• Frozen berries — rock solid. Do not even try