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37-503: A teaspoon ( tsp. ) is an item of cutlery . It is a small spoon that can be used to stir a cup of tea or coffee , or as a tool for measuring volume . The size of teaspoons ranges from about 2.5 to 7.3 mL (0.088 to 0.257 imp fl oz; 0.085 to 0.247 US fl oz). For cooking purposes and dosing of medicine, a teaspoonful is defined as 5 mL (0.18 imp fl oz; 0.17 US fl oz), and standard measuring spoons are used. A teaspoon

74-415: A heaped , heaping , or rounded spoonful is not leveled off, and includes a heap above the spoon. The exact volume of a heaped tablespoon depends somewhat on the shape and curvature of the measuring spoon being used and largely upon the physical properties of the substance being measured, and so is not a precise unit of measurement. If neither a rounded nor a level tablespoon is specified, a level tablespoon

111-740: A cutler in London in 1346, and training a woman apprentice, known as Juseana. The city of Sheffield in England has been famous for the production of cutlery since the 17th century and a train – the Master Cutler – running from Sheffield to London was named after the industry. Bringing affordable cutlery to the masses, stainless steel was developed in Sheffield in the early 20th century. The major items of cutlery in Western culture are

148-583: A poor approximation of the standard tsp measure. The study investigated the accuracy of teaspoons as a measuring tool for liquid medicine. They surveyed 71 teaspoons from 25 houses and found that the volume varied between 2.5 and 7.3 ml (0.088 and 0.257 imp fl oz; 0.085 and 0.247 US fl oz). The metric teaspoon as a unit of culinary measure is 5 ml (0.18 imp fl oz; 0.17 US fl oz), equal to 5  cm , 1 ⁄ 3 UK/Canadian metric tablespoon, or 1 ⁄ 4 Australian metric tablespoon. As

185-457: A popular biodegradable alternative. Bamboo (although not a wood) and maple are popular choices. Edible cutlery is made from dried grains. These are made primarily with rice, millets or wheat. Since rice cultivation needs a lot of water, manufacturers market millet based products as more environment friendly. The batter is baked in moulds which hardens it. Some manufacturers offer an option of flavoured cutlery. Edible cutlery decomposes in about

222-407: A real teaspoon: a teaspoon's greater area supports considerably more to be heaped above it than a deeper hemispherical measuring spoon, so if using a measuring spoon, one will typically use less than called for by the recipe. The definitions of "spoonful" vary, in particular, in a typical American recipe a "spoon" without clarification stands for a "level" spoon (the one with no ingredient showing above

259-586: A sharp edge well, and is less likely to break in service. After fabrication, the knife had to be sharpened, originally on a grindstone , but from the late medieval period in a blade mill or (as they were known in the Sheffield region) a cutlers wheel. Introduced for convenience purposes (lightweight, no cleanup after the meal required), disposable cutlery made of plastic has become a huge worldwide market. Along with other disposable tableware (paper plates, plastic table covers, disposable cups , paper napkins , etc.), these products have become essential for

296-478: A tablespoon or 1 ⁄ 8 of a fluid ounce. The apothecaries' teaspoon was formally known by the Latin cochleare minus ( cochl. min. ) to distinguish it from the tablespoon or cochleare majus ( cochl. maj. ). When tea-drinking was first introduced to England circa 1660, tea was rare and expensive, as a consequence of which teacups and teaspoons were smaller than today. This situation persisted until 1784, when

333-515: A unit of culinary measure, one teaspoon in the United States is 1 ⁄ 3 tablespoon , exactly 4.928 921 593 75  ml, 1 1 ⁄ 3 US fluid drams , 1 ⁄ 6 US fl oz , 1 ⁄ 48 US cup , 1 ⁄ 768 US liquid gallon , or 77 ⁄ 256  (0.30078125)  cubic inches . For nutritional labeling and medicine in the US, the teaspoon is defined

370-400: A week if disposed. At Sheffield the trade of cutler became divided, with allied trades such as razormaker , awl bladesmith, shearsmith and forkmaker emerging and becoming distinct trades by the 18th century. Before the mid 19th century when cheap mild steel became available due to new methods of steelmaking , knives (and other edged tools) were made by welding a strip of steel on to

407-499: Is 14.8 ml (0.50 US fl oz; 0.52 imp fl oz) or 15 ml (0.51 US fl oz; 0.53 imp fl oz). In nutrition labeling in the U.S. and the U.K., a tablespoon is defined as 15 ml (0.51 US fl oz). In Australia, the definition of the tablespoon is 20 ml (0.70  imp fl oz ). A metric tablespoon is exactly equal to 15 ml (0.51 US fl oz). The traditional U.S. interpretation of

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444-448: Is 20 ml (0.68 US fl oz). The capacity of the utensil (as opposed to the measurement) is defined by neither law nor custom but only by preferences, and may or may not significantly approximate the measurement. Before about 1700, it was customary for Europeans to bring their own spoons to the table. Spoons were carried as personal property in much the same way as people today carry wallets, key rings, etc. From about 1700

481-405: Is a small spoon suitable for stirring and sipping the contents of a cup of tea or coffee , or adding a portion of loose sugar to it. These spoons have heads more or less oval in shape. Teaspoons are a common part of a place setting . Teaspoons with longer handles, such as iced tea spoons , are commonly used also for ice cream desserts or floats . Similar spoons include the tablespoon and

518-407: Is gaining popularity. Some manufacturers coat their products in food-safe plant oils, waxes and lemon juice for a longer shelf life making these safe for human use. Cutlery is then cured for a few days before leaving the manufacturing plant. Traditional centres of cutlery-making include: Tablespoon By extension, the term is also used as a cooking measure of volume . In this capacity, it

555-409: Is made for disposable use, and is frequently used outdoors for camping , excursions , and barbecues for instance. Plastic cutlery is also commonly used at fast-food or take-away outlets and provided with airline meals in economy class. Plastic is also used for children's cutlery. It is often thicker and more durable than disposable plastic cutlery. Wooden disposable cutlery is available as

592-412: Is most commonly abbreviated tbsp. or Tbsp. and occasionally referred to as a tablespoonful to distinguish it from the utensil. The unit of measurement varies by region: a United States liquid tablespoon is approximately 14.8  ml (0.50  US fl oz ), a European, United Kingdom and Canadian tablespoon is exactly 15 ml (0.51 US fl oz), and an Australian tablespoon

629-455: Is used to separate citrus fruits from their membranes. A bar spoon , equivalent to a teaspoon, is used in measuring ingredients for mixed drinks . A container designed to hold extra teaspoons, called a spooner , usually in a set with a covered sugar container, formed a part of Victorian table service. The teaspoon is a European invention. Small spoons were common in Europe since at least

666-464: Is usually used to refer to a tablespoon, to differentiate it from the smaller teaspoon ( tsp. ). Some authors additionally capitalize the abbreviation, as Tbsp. , while leaving tsp. in lower case, to emphasize that the larger tablespoon, rather than the smaller teaspoon, is wanted. The tablespoon abbreviation is sometimes further abbreviated to Tb. or T . In most places, except Australia, one tablespoon equals three teaspoons —and one US tablespoon

703-504: The Commutation Act reduced the tax on tea from 119% to 12.5%. As the price of tea declined, the size of teacups and teaspoons increased. By the 1850s, the teaspoon as a unit of culinary measure had increased to 1 ⁄ 3 of a tablespoon, but the apothecary unit of measure remained the same. Nevertheless, the teaspoon, usually under its Latin name, continued to be used in apothecaries' measures for several more decades, with

740-520: The Middle English word 'cuteler' and this in turn derives from Old French 'coutelier' which comes from 'coutel'; meaning knife (modern French: couteau). The word's early origins can be seen in the Latin word 'culter' (knife). Sterling silver is the traditional material from which good quality cutlery is made. Historically, silver had the advantage over other metals of being less chemically reactive. Chemical reactions between certain foods and

777-466: The dessert spoon , the latter intermediate in size between a teaspoon and a tablespoon, used in eating dessert and sometimes soup or cereals. Much less common is the coffee spoon, which is a smaller version of the teaspoon, intended for use with the small type of coffee cup. Another teaspoon, called an orange spoon (in American English: grapefruit spoon), tapers to a sharp point or teeth, and

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814-531: The fast food and catering industry. The products are emblematic of throw-away societies and the cause of millions of tons of non-biodegradable plastic waste . The European Union has banned such plastic products from 3 July 2021 as part of the European Plastics Strategy . Bans are also planned in the UK and Canada. As an ecofriendly alternative to non-degradable plastic, wooden cutlery

851-555: The knife , fork and spoon . These three implements first appeared together on tables in Britain in the Georgian era . In recent times, hybrid versions of cutlery have been made combining the functionality of different eating implements, including the spork ( sp oon / f ork ), spife ( sp oon / kn ife ), and knork ( kn ife / f ork ). The sporf or splayd combines all three. The word cutler derives from

888-469: The knop-top name for such spoons. Widespread use and modern size date back to the Georgian era . The teaspoon is first mentioned in an advertisement in a 1686 edition of the London Gazette , teaspoons, probably of English origin, are present on the 1700 Dutch painting by Nicholas Verkolje , "A Tea Party". A special dish for resting the teaspoons, a " spoon boat ", was a part of the tea set in

925-420: The place setting became popular, and with it the "table-spoon" (hyphenated), "table-fork" and "table-knife". Around the same time the tea-spoon and dessert-spoon first appeared, and the table-spoon was reserved for eating soup . The 18th century witnessed a proliferation of different sorts of spoons, including the mustard-spoon , salt-spoon , coffee-spoon , and soup-spoon . In the late 19th century UK,

962-451: The 13th century. These special spoons were introduced almost simultaneously with tea and coffee (Pettigrew points to use in the mid-17th century). Originally teaspoons were exotic items, precious and small, resembling the demitasse spoons of the later times. Also used for coffee, these spoons were usually made of gilt silver , and were available with a variety of handle shapes: plain, twisted, decorated with knobs, also known as knops , hence

999-406: The 18th century. At that time, the spoons were playing important role in the tea drinking etiquette: a spoon laid "across" the teacup indicated that the guest did not need any more tea, otherwise, the hostess was obligated to offer a fresh cup of tea, and it was considered impolite to refuse the offering. Pettigrew reports that sometimes the spoons were numbered to make it easier to match the cups with

1036-539: The British metallurgist Harry Brearley discovered stainless steel by chance, bringing affordable cutlery to the masses. This metal has come to be the predominant one used in cutlery. An alternative is melchior , corrosion-resistant nickel and copper alloy, which can also sometimes contain manganese and nickel-iron. Titanium has also been used to make cutlery for its lower thermal conductivity and weight savings compared to steel, with uses in camping. Plastic cutlery

1073-429: The cutlery metal can lead to unpleasant tastes. Gold is even less reactive than silver, but the use of gold cutlery was confined to the exceptionally wealthy, such as monarchs. Steel was always used for more utilitarian knives, and pewter was used for some cheaper items, especially spoons. From the nineteenth century, electroplated nickel silver (EPNS) was used as a cheaper substitute for sterling silver. In 1913,

1110-564: The dessert-spoon and soup-spoon began to displace the table-spoon as the primary implement for eating from a bowl, at which point the name "table-spoon" took on a secondary meaning as a much larger serving spoon . At the time the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published in 1928, "tablespoon" (which by then was no longer hyphenated) still had two definitions in the UK: the original definition (eating spoon) and

1147-559: The guests after a refill. In some countries, a teaspoon (occasionally teaspoonful ) is a cooking measure of volume , especially widely used in cooking recipes and pharmaceutic medical prescriptions. In English it is abbreviated as tsp. or, less often, as t. , ts. , or tspn. . The abbreviation is never capitalized because a capital letter is customarily reserved for the larger tablespoon ("Tbsp.", "T.", "Tbls.", or "Tb."). A small scale study in Greece found that household teaspoons are

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1184-548: The new definition (serving spoon). Victorian and Edwardian era tablespoons used in the UK are often 25 ml (0.85 US fl oz) or sometimes larger. They are used only for preparing and serving food, not as part of a place-setting. Common tablespoons intended for use as cutlery (called dessert spoons in the UK, where a tablespoon is always a serving spoon) usually hold 7–14 ml (0.24–0.47 US fl oz), considerably less than some tablespoons used for serving. In recipes, an abbreviation like tbsp.

1221-405: The original definition of one fluid dram. Cutlery Cutlery (also referred to as silverware , flatware , or tableware ) includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture . A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler . While most cutlers were historically men, women could be cutlers too; Agnes Cotiller was working as

1258-410: The piece of iron that was to be formed into a knife, or sandwiching a strip of steel between two pieces of iron. This was done because steel was then a much more expensive commodity than iron. Modern blades are sometimes laminated , but for a different reason. Since the hardest steel is brittle, a layer of hard steel may be laid between two layers of a milder, less brittle steel, for a blade that keeps

1295-436: The rim of the spoon bowl), while a British cookbook would mean a "round" or "heaped" spoon, with the ingredient peaking above the rim: Lincoln used the spoon measure without adjectives to define either a rounded one (for flour and sugar) or a level one (for salt and spices). As an unofficial but once widely used unit of apothecaries' measure , the teaspoon is equal to 1 fluid dram (or drachm) and thus 1 ⁄ 4 of

1332-420: The same as a metric teaspoon—precisely 5  millilitres (mL) . For dry granular or powdered ingredients (e.g., salt , flour , spices , and especially beverages involving tea and sugar ), a recipe may call for the spoon to be filled in a certain way that changes the volume of the ingredient. As with much of cooking, these measures are by their nature inexact. This can be exacerbated here by failing to use

1369-547: The tablespoon as a unit of volume is: The Australian definition of the tablespoon as a unit of volume is: This definition was promulgated by the Metric Conversion Board in the 1970s, as part of Metrication in Australia . For dry ingredients, if a recipe calls for a level tablespoon , the usual meaning without further qualification, is measured by filling the spoon and scraping it level. In contrast,

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