For description and history, see spoon

Spoon

A spoon is a utensil consisting of a small shallow bowl, oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery , especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily for serving. Spoons are also used in food preparation to measure, mix, stir and toss ingredients...

. For spoons other than utensils, see Spoon (disambiguation)

Spoon (disambiguation)

A spoon is an eating or cooking implement, consisting of a small oval or round shallow bowl with a handle. See also List of types of spoons.Spoon may also refer to:In sport:*spoon , a wooden golf club...

.

Eating utensils

Spoons are primarily used to transfer edibles from vessel to mouth, usually at a dining table. Named after a drink or food with which they are most often used, the material with which they are composed, or a feature of their appearance or structure.

• bouillon
  Bouillon (broth)
  Bouillon, in French cuisine, is simply a broth. This name comes from the verb bouillir, meaning to boil. It is usually made by the simmering of mirepoix and aromatic herbs with either beef, veal, or poultry bones and/or with shrimp, or vegetables in boiling water.This is not to be confused with...
  
   spoon — round-bowled, somewhat smaller than a soup spoon
• caviar
  Caviar
  Caviar, sometimes called black caviar, is a luxury delicacy, consisting of processed, salted, non-fertilized sturgeon roe. The roe can be "fresh" or pasteurized, the latter having much less culinary and economic value....
  
   spoon — usually made of mother of pearl, gold
  Gold
  Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
  
  , animal horn
  Horn (anatomy)
  A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...
  
   or wood but not silver
  Silver
  Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
  
  , which would affect the taste
• coffee spoon — small, for use with after-dinner coffee cup
  Coffee cup
  A coffee cup may refer to a type of container from which coffee is consumed. Coffee cups are typically made of glazed ceramic, and have a single handle, allowing for portability while still hot...
  
  s, (usu: smaller than teaspoon)
• demitasse
  Demitasse
  A demitasse is a small cup used to serve Arabic coffee or espresso. In some languages it is called fincan, fildžan, filxhan or φλιτζάνι . In Spanish, it is called a pocillo....
  
   spoon — diminutive, smaller than a teaspoon; for traditional coffee
  Coffee
  Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
  
   drinks in specialty cups and for spooning cappuccino
  Cappuccino
  A cappuccino is an Italian coffee drink prepared with espresso, hot milk, and steamed-milk foam. The name comes from the Capuchin friars, referring to the colour of their habits.- Definition :...
  
   froth
• dessert spoon
  Dessert spoon
  thumb|right|From left: [[knife]], [[fork]], dessert spoon, [[teaspoon]] A dessert spoon is a spoon designed specifically for eating dessert and sometimes used for soup or cereals...
  
   — intermediate in size between a teaspoon and a tablespoon, used in eating dessert
  Dessert
  In cultures around the world, dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common Western desserts include cakes, biscuits,...
  
   and sometimes soup or cereals
• egg spoon
  Egg spoon
  An egg spoon is a specialised spoon for use in eating boiled eggs. In comparison to a teaspoon it typically has a shorter handle and bowl, a more pointed tip and often a more rounded bowl. These characteristics are intended to facilitate the removal of an egg's contents from the shell, through a...
  
   — for eating boiled eggs
  Boiled eggs
  Boiled eggs are eggs cooked by immersion in boiling water with their shells unbroken. Hard-boiled eggs are either boiled long enough for the egg white and then the egg yolk to...
  
  ; with a shorter handle and bowl, a more pointed tip and often a more rounded bowl than a teaspoon
• ice cream fork — although called a "fork", this implement has a bowl like a teaspoon with the point made into 3 stubby tines that dig easily into frozen ice cream
• marrow spoon or marrow scoop — 18th century, often of silver, with a long thin bowl suitable for removing marrow from a bone
• salt spoon
  Salt spoon
  A salt spoon is a miniature utensil used with an open salt cellar for individual service. It is an historical and nostalgic item from a time before table salt was free-flowing, as it is today. The spoon itself ranges from 2 to 3 inches long and has a circular bowl measuring approximately 0.5...
  
   — miniature, used with an open salt cellar
  Salt cellar
  A salt cellar is a vessel, usually small and made of glass or silver, used on the table for holding salt. An individual salt dish or squat open salt cellar placed near a trencher was called a trencher salt...
  
   for individual service
• saucier spoon — slightly flattened spoon with a notch in one side; used for drizzling sauces over fish or other delicate foods.
• soup spoon
  Soup spoon
  A soup spoon is a type of spoon with a large or rounded bowl, used for eating soup. The term either can either refer to the Western soup spoon or the Chinese spoon.-Chinese:...
  
   — with a large or rounded bowl for eating soup. Example:
  • cream-soup spoon — round-bowled, slightly shorter than a standard soup spoon
• teaspoon
  Teaspoon
  A teaspoon, an item of cutlery, is a small spoon, commonly part of a silverware place setting, suitable for stirring and sipping the contents of a cup of tea or coffee...
  
   — small, suitable for stirring and sipping tea
  Tea
  Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
  
   or coffee
  Coffee
  Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
  
  , standard capacity one third of a tablespoon, unit of volume
  Cooking weights and measures
  In recipes, quantities of ingredients may be specified by mass, by volume, or by count.For most of history, most cookbooks did not specify quantities precisely, instead talking of "a nice leg of spring lamb", a "cupful" of lentils, a piece of butter "the size of a walnut", and "sufficient" salt...
  
  .
• grapefruit spoon
  Grapefruit spoon
  A grapefruit spoon is a utensil usually similar in design to a teaspoon that tapers to a sharp edge or teeth, the intent of the front serration being to separate the flesh of a grapefruit from its rind...
  
   or orange spoon — tapers to a sharp point or teeth, used for citrus
  Citrus
  Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...
  
   fruits and melon
  Melon
  thumb|200px|Various types of melonsThis list of melons includes members of the plant family Cucurbitaceae with edible, fleshy fruit e.g. gourds or cucurbits. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit...
  
  s
• iced tea spoon
  Iced tea spoon
  An iced tea spoon, also called a soda spoon, is a thin spoon with a very long handle. It is used primarily in the United States, for stirring sugar or other sweeteners into iced tea, which is traditionally served in a tall glass. This is why the spoon has a very long handle.It is also commonly used...
  
   — with a very long handle
• tablespoon
  Tablespoon
  A tablespoon is a type of large spoon usually used for serving. A tablespoonful, the capacity of one tablespoon, is commonly used as a measure of volume in cooking...
  
   — volume of three teaspoons. Sometimes used for ice cream and soup, unit of volume
  Cooking weights and measures
  In recipes, quantities of ingredients may be specified by mass, by volume, or by count.For most of history, most cookbooks did not specify quantities precisely, instead talking of "a nice leg of spring lamb", a "cupful" of lentils, a piece of butter "the size of a walnut", and "sufficient" salt...
  
  .
• cutty — short, chiefly Scot and Irish
• horn spoon — a spoon made of horn, used chiefly interjectionally in the phrase By the Great Horn Spoon!
  By the Great Horn Spoon!
  By The Great Horn Spoon! is a children's novel by Sid Fleischman, published in 1965. This story takes place in the California Gold Rush. The main characters of the book are Praiseworthy, a butler, and Jack, a twelve-year old boy who head to California to search for gold after Jack's Aunt Arabella...
  
  , as in the children's novel of that title by Sid Fleischman
  Sid Fleischman
  Albert Sidney Fleischman , pen name Sid Fleischman, was a Newbery Medal-winning author of children's books, screenplays, novels for adults, and books on magic. His works for children are known for their humor, imagery, zesty plotting, and exploration of the byways of American history...
  
  
• plastic spoon — cheap, disposable, flexible, stain resistant, sometimes biodegradable; black, white, colored or clear; smooth, non-porous surface; varied types and uses
• rattail spoon — developed in the later 17th century; with a thin pointed tongue on the bottom of the bowl to reinforce the joint of bowl and handle
• runcible spoon — often used for a fork with three broad curved prongs and a sharpened edge or a grapefruit spoon with a serrated bowl, used with pickles
  Pickling
  Pickling, also known as brining or corning is the process of preserving food by anaerobic fermentation in brine to produce lactic acid, or marinating and storing it in an acid solution, usually vinegar . The resulting food is called a pickle. This procedure gives the food a salty or sour taste...
  
   or hors d'oeuvres; often synonymous with spork or splade, though sometimes defined as a type of olive spoon; originally a fictitious utensil, still referenced in modern fantastical literature
• seal-top spoon — silver, end of handle in the form of a circular seal
  Seal (device)
  A seal can be a figure impressed in wax, clay, or some other medium, or embossed on paper, with the purpose of authenticating a document ; but the term can also mean the device for making such impressions, being essentially a mould with the mirror image of the design carved in sunken- relief or...
  
  ; popular in England in the later 16th and 17th centuries
• spork
  Spork
  A spork or a foon is a hybrid form of cutlery taking the form of a spoon-like shallow scoop with three or four fork tines. Spork-like utensils, such as the terrapin fork or ice cream fork, have been manufactured since the late 19th century; patents for spork-like designs date back to at least 1874,...
  
   or Splayd — differing combinations of a spoon with a fork or knife

Cooking and serving utensils

Spoons primarily used in food preparation, handling or serving, in the kitchen or at the table. Most are named after an edible for which they are specially designed. Two utensils with spoon-shaped ends conclude the list.

• ladle
  Ladle (spoon)
  A ladle is a type of spoon used to scoop up and serve soup, stew, or other foods. Although designs vary, a typical ladle has a long handle terminating in a deep bowl, frequently with the bowl oriented at an angle to the handle to facilitate lifting liquid out of a pot or other vessel and conveying...
  
   — with a deep bowl and a long handle attached at a steep angle, to scoop and convey liquids
• serving spoon — serves and portions salads, vegetables and fruits; larger than a tablespoon; bowl round rather than oval, to take up food more easily; long handle
• tablespoon
  Tablespoon
  A tablespoon is a type of large spoon usually used for serving. A tablespoonful, the capacity of one tablespoon, is commonly used as a measure of volume in cooking...
  
   — large, usually used for serving

• absinthe spoon
  Absinthiana
  Absinthiana are the accoutrements surrounding the drink absinthe and its preparation ritual. Originally, absinthe was served in standard glasses and water was added from a simple carafe. But as its popularity grew so did the variety of implements used, such as specialty glasses and complex...
  
   — perforated or slotted to dissolve a sugar cube in a glass of absinthe; normally flat bowl, with a notch in the handle where it rests on the rim of a glass
• bar spoon
  Bar spoon
  A bar spoon is a long handled spoon used in bartending for mixing and layering of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic mixed drinks. Its length ensures that it can reach to bottom of the tallest jug or tumbler to mix ingredients directly in the glass. A bar spoon holds about 5 millilitres of liquid...
  
   — equivalent to a teaspoon, used in measuring ingredients for mixed drinks
  Mixed drink supplies
  Mixed drink supplies are the various components that are used to create mixed drinks.-Drinkware:Mixed drinks are served in drinkware, usually some type of glassware drinking vessel. Many glasses are named after popular drinks served in a specific style of glass . Not all drinkware is made of glass,...
  
  
• berry spoon — large, with a broad deep bowl; used in serving berries, salad
  Salad
  Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes, including vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.Green salads include leaf...
  
   and other juicy foods
• bonbon spoon — with a flat perforated bowl for bonbon
  Bonbon
  The name bonbon refers to any of several types of sweets, especially small candies enrobed in chocolate.The first reports of bonbons come from the 17th century, when they were made at the French royal court. Their name arose from infantile reduplication of the word bon, meaning 'good'...
  
  s and nuts
• caddy spoon
  Caddy spoon
  A caddy spoon is a spoon used for measuring tea leaves. Traditionally made of silver, they were in common use in the 19th century, when tea was an expensive commodity.-Bibliography:...
  
   — used for measuring tea leaves, traditionally made of silver
• cheese scoop — pointed spoonlike table implement for scooping out cheese
  Cheese
  Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
  
  . Example:
  • Stilton spoon — traditionally used for taking portions from a whole wheel of Stilton cheese
    Stilton (cheese)
    Stilton is a type of English cheese, known for its characteristic strong smell and taste. It is produced in two varieties: the well-known blue and the lesser-known white. Both have been granted the status of a protected designation of origin by the European Commission, together one of only...
    
     without disturbing the rind
• chutney spoon — for hygienically dispensing chutneys, especially mango chutney, from a communal open or lidded dish; the two are usually manufactured together as part of a multi-purpose dispenser in restaurants; alternatively may come with a specially designed and matching chutney spoon holder for domestic use
• jelly spoon — for serving fruit preserves
  Fruit preserves
  Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits and sugar, often canned or sealed for long-term storage. The preparation of fruit preserves today often involves adding commercial or natural pectin as a gelling agent, although sugar or honey may be used, as well. Prior to World War II, fruit preserve...
  
  ; sometimes with a point and an odd-shaped edge; sometimes used with a jelly jar

• mote spoon — perforated, used to sieve loose tea
  Tea
  Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
  
   from a cup; handle finial has a spike to unclog the teapot
  Teapot
  A teapot is a vessel used for steeping tea leaves or a herbal mix in near-boiling water. Tea may be either in a tea bag or loose, in which case a tea strainer will be needed, either to hold the leaves as they steep or to catch the leaves inside the teapot when the tea is poured...
  
   spout
• mustard spoon — for serving mustard
  Mustard (condiment)
  Mustard is a condiment made from the seeds of a mustard plant...
  
  ; usually small, with a deep bowl elongated to form a scoop and set at right angles to the handle
• olive spoon — used to remove olives from their liquid, while allowing the liquid to drain easily from the spoon; typically made from stainless steel; has slots or a hole cut from the bottom of a bowl-shaped head to release the liquid from the spoon; also used to lift cherries, cocktail onions, pickled garlic and similar condiment
  Condiment
  A condiment is an edible substance, such as sauce or seasoning, added to food to impart a particular flavor, enhance its flavor, or in some cultures, to complement the dish. Many condiments are available packaged in single-serving sachets , like mustard or ketchup, particularly when supplied with...
  
  s from the liquids used to store the foods
• salt spoon
  Salt spoon
  A salt spoon is a miniature utensil used with an open salt cellar for individual service. It is an historical and nostalgic item from a time before table salt was free-flowing, as it is today. The spoon itself ranges from 2 to 3 inches long and has a circular bowl measuring approximately 0.5...
  
   — miniature, used with an open salt cellar
  Salt cellar
  A salt cellar is a vessel, usually small and made of glass or silver, used on the table for holding salt. An individual salt dish or squat open salt cellar placed near a trencher was called a trencher salt...
  
   for individual service
• sugar spoon
  Sugar spoon
  A sugar spoon is a piece of cutlery used for serving granulated sugar. This type of spoon resembles a teaspoon except that the bowl is deeper and often molded in the shape of a sea shell, giving it the name sugar shell...
  
   or sugar shell — for serving granulated sugar; bowl often molded in the form of a sea shell
• tea infuser
  Tea infuser
  A tea infuser is a device in which loose tea leaves are placed for steeping, usually in a cup; it is often called a teaball or tea maker, and sometimes a tea egg. The tea infuser gained popularity in the first half of the 19th century...
  
   or tea maker — perforated and covered, holds tea leaves, used in brewing tea in a cup

• slotted spoon
  Slotted spoon
  A slotted spoon is an implement used in food preparation. The term can be used to describe any spoon with slots, holes or other openings in the bowl of the spoon which let liquid pass through while preserving the larger solids on top...
  
   — used in food preparation; has slots, holes or other openings in the bowl which let liquid pass through while preserving the larger solids on top
• wooden spoon
  Wooden spoon
  A wooden spoon is a spoon made from wood, commonly used in food preparation.- History :The word spoon derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of wood or horn carved from a larger piece. Wooden spoons were easy to carve and thus inexpensive, making them common throughout history.The Iron Age...
  
   — made of wood, commonly used in food preparation

• stirrer — utensil with a long stem and usually a spoon end for mixing drinks
• sugar tongs — pair of usually silver tongs
  Tongs
  Tongs are used for gripping and lifting tools, of which there are many forms adapted to their specific use. Some are merely large pincers or nippers, but the greatest number fall into three classes:...
  
   with claw-shaped or spoon-shaped ends for serving lump sugar

Other objects

Items in the form of spoons used for ceremonial or commemorative purposes, or for functions other than ingesting comestibles.

• anointing spoon or coronation spoon — a silver spoon, part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, the regalia used for the coronation of English monarchs; first used in the 12th century
• apostle spoon
  Apostle spoon
  An apostle spoon is a spoon with an image of an apostle or other Christian religious figure as the termination of the handle, each bearing his distinctive emblem. Apostle spoons were particularly popular in Pre-Reformation times when belief in the services of a patron saint was still strong...
  
   — a christening gift with the bust of an apostle as the finial
• cochlear — spoon used in the Eastern Orthodox Church
  Eastern Orthodox Church
  The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
  
   in serving the consecrated wine, sometimes with a particle of the sacramental bread
  Sacramental bread
  Sacramental bread, sometimes called the lamb, altar bread, host or simply Communion bread, is the bread which is used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist.-Eastern Catholic and Orthodox:...
  
  
• lovespoon — a wooden spoon, often with double bowl, formerly carved by a Welsh suitor as a gift of betrothal for his promised bride
• maidenhead spoon — 16th century silver or silver-gilt spoon with handle terminating in a bust of the Virgin Mary
• silver spoon
  Silver spoon
  The English language expression silver spoon is synonymous with wealth, especially inherited wealth; someone born into a wealthy family is said to have "been born with a silver spoon in his mouth". As an adjective, "silver-spoon" describes someone who has a prosperous background or is of a...
  
   — a small spoon given to a newborn child to ensure good fortune; used as a metaphor for someone born to riches
• souvenir spoon
  Souvenir spoon
  A souvenir spoon is a decorative spoon used to signify or hold a memory of a place or event, or to display as a 'trophy' of having been there, thus also a classical memento from pilgrimage sites; they are often in more fancy materials and highly ornamentive, depicting sights, coat of arms,...
  
  — decorative, used to commemorate a place or event
• wooden spoon
  Wooden spoon (award)
  A wooden spoon is a mock or real award, usually given to an individual or team which has come last in a competition, but sometimes also to runners-up. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous events...
  
   — a spoon made of wood presented originally at Cambridge University to the man ranking lowest among those taking honors in the mathematical tripos, and at other colleges and universities to other selected recipients

• cocaine spoon
  Cocaine spoon
  A cocaine spoon, referred to as a "coke spoon", or simply "spoon", is an instrument used in the process of insufflating cocaine. The spoons are usually long and slender metallic objects with varying designs and patterns, with a small bowl at the end...
  
   or coke spoon — a very small spoon used to sniff cocaine
  Cocaine
  Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
  
  
• ear spoon — a small spoon used to remove earwax
  Earwax
  Earwax, also known by the medical term cerumen, is a yellowish waxy substance secreted in the ear canal of humans and other mammals. It protects the skin of the human ear canal, assists in cleaning and lubrication, and also provides some protection from bacteria, fungi, insects and water...
  
  , more common before the marketing of cotton-tipped swabs for this purpose