We Tried 8 "Time-Saving" Summer Fruit Hacks & Here's What Actually Worked

What's best fresh during the summertime? (Aside from air and sunshine, of course.) Fruit! From berries to melons, mangos and more, it's all in season — ripe, and ready for the picking. And peeling. And cutting. And de-pitting. And coring. So, even though we love to eat the sweet stuff, prepping and packing it is another story — completely. Not only is fruit often a time consuming pain to slice and dice, but it can also result in a very real physical pain. Need we even mention dreadful avocado hand? We're cringing.

Because of this, any time we catch wind of a miracle fruit hack we are all ears for working it into our kitchen arsenal. But more often than not, when put to the test these hacks fall short of the "amazing ease" and "super speed" they always seem to promise. In order for a food hack (or fruit hack) to be successful, in our book, it must be time-efficient, generally mess-free, and safe. (Keeping our fingers definitely trumps extra-quick chopping.) With those guidelines in mind, we decided to put a handful of the most seasonal fruit hacks to the test, so you don't end up wasting time or slicing a hand or finger over them.

Click ahead to find out which of the following eight turned out to be time-savers, time-sucks, or all around duds.