Types of Scoops

Super scoopers

Universal tool

Like knives, bows, and arrows, the scoop is universal. No society on earth is known to have existed without it. While the Inca may not have had the wheel they did have scoops and so do you. You use scoops throughout your home but nowhere more so than in the kitchen. You may want to get to know this simple but elegant device a little bit better.

Ice cream scoops: Ice cream scoops are probably the most distinct of all the scoops in your kitchen. High style designers have often attempted to refine the look, mechanism and feel of ice cream scoops.

Indeed, the Zeroll ice cream scoop is recognized and displayed by the museum of modern art in New York City. The highly polished exterior conceals the real secret, a defrosting fluid that is warmed by your touch. The defrosting fluid actually replaces the mechanical scraper that usually dislodges the ice cream from the scoop. Another great feature is that this scoop works for both left and right hand use.

Antique ice cream scoops are also the focus of a great deal of collectors. Collectors covet scoops ranging from clunky turn of the century "Clad's Disher" scoops to the kind most of us are more familiar with the Peerless Ice Cream Scoop that has the thumb actuated scraping mechanism. The most interesting and sleekest that I have come across is the Deco influenced pewter Mason Magic Scoop manufactured buy the Lemason Co. of Boston, Mass.

Ladles and dippers: Another type of scoop that we have in our homes. They are also the object of desire for many an antique collector. One of the more beautiful and simple are 50s era Italian gravy boat ladle combos made of stainless steel with brightly colored plastic accents.

Measuring scoops: Anyone who finds they are perpetually failing to obtain satisfactory results in the kitchen need to run right out and buy some measuring scoops. Certain recipes depend on a level of precision in measuring second only to chemistry. Baking especially requires that ingredients be in very specific quantities.

A tablespoon, a rounded tablespoon and a tablespoon packed, most often associated with brown sugar, are very different measurements and should be approached as such. For instance, the amount of sugar added to a recipe that also calls for yeast is particularly important because the sugar is in fact food for the yeast.

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