Scoop (utensil)

In common usage, a scoop is any specialized spoon used to serve food.

[1] In the technical terms used by the food service industry and in the retail and wholesale food utensil industries, there is a clear distinction between three types of scoop: the disher, which is used to measure a portion e.g. cookie dough, to make melon balls, and often to serve ice cream (although manufacturers frequently advise against using dishers for ice cream and other frozen foods);[citation needed] the ice cream scoop, and the transfer scoop which is used to measure or to transfer an unspecified amount of a bulk dry foodstuff such as rice, flour, or sugar.

[citation needed] Alfred L. Cralle, a porter in a drug store and at a hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,[2][3] noticed that servers at the hotel had trouble with ice cream sticking to serving spoons, and he developed an ice cream scoop.

[6][7] Cralle's functional design is reflected in modern ice cream scoops.

The table below is the standard definition in the U.S. food industry, but actual capacity varies by manufacturer.