Adessert spoon is a spoon designed specifically for eating dessert and sometimes used for soup or cereals. Similar in size to a soup spoon (intermediate between a teaspoon and a tablespoon) but with an oval rather than round bowl, it typically has a capacity around twice that of a teaspoon.
The use of dessert spoons around the world varies massively; in some areas they are very common, while in other places the use of the dessert spoon is almost unheard of—with diners using forks or teaspoons for their desserts as a default.[1]
In most traditional table settings, the dessert spoon is placed above the plate or bowl, separated from the rest of the cutlery, or it may simply be brought in with the dessert.[2]
As a unit of culinary measure, a level dessertspoon (dsp., dspn. or dstspn.) equals 2 teaspoons. In the United States this is 1⁄3 of a fluid ounce. In the UK it is 10 ml.
As a unit of Apothecary measure, the dessert-spoon was an unofficial but widely used unit of fluid measure equal to two fluid drams, or 1⁄4fluid ounce.[3] However, even when approximated, its use was discouraged: "Inasmuch as spoons vary greatly in capacity, and from their form are unfit for use in the dosage of medicine, it is desirable... to be measured with a suitable medicine measure."[4]
In the United States and pre-1824 England, the fluid ounce was 1⁄128 of a Queen Anne wine gallon (which was defined as exactly 231 cubic inches) thus making the dessert-spoon approximately 7.39 ml. The post-1824 (British) imperial Apothecaries' dessert-spoon was also 1⁄4 fluid ounce, but the ounce in question was 1⁄160 of an imperial gallon, approximately 277.4 cubic inches, yielding a dessert-spoon of approximately 7.10 ml.[5]
In both the British and American variants of the Apothecaries' system, two tea-spoons make a dessert-spoon, while two dessert-spoons make a table-spoon. In pharmaceutical Latin, the Apothecaries' dessert-spoon is known as cochleare medium, abbreviated as cochl. med. or less frequently coch. med., as opposed to the tea-spoon (cochleare minusorminimum) and table-spoon (cochleare magisormagnum).[6]
