A dessert 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.
By extension, the term "dessert spoon" is used as a cooking measure of volume, usually of 10 ml or fl oz.
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 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 fluid 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 of a Queen Anne wine gallon (which was defined as exactly 231 cubic inches) thus making the dessert-spoon approximately NaNdisp=outNaNdisp=out. The post-1824 (British) imperial Apothecaries' dessert-spoon was also fluid ounce, but the ounce in question was of an imperial gallon, approximately 277.4 cubic inches, yielding a dessert-spoon of approximately NaNdisp=outNaNdisp=out.[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 Latin: cochleare medium, abbreviated as Latin: cochl. med. or less frequently Latin: coch. med., as opposed to the tea-spoon (Latin: cochleare minus or Latin: minimum) and table-spoon (Latin: cochleare magis or Latin: magnum).[6]