# Tiny Plastic tasting Spoons



## sqkcrk

I want to let people taste honey before they buy it, at Arts and Crafts Shows or Demonstrations. I have seen some really small spoons used by Baskin Robbins, which I imagine that BR have produced for their own use. Does anyone know where I can get these spoons or something like them. One eigth teaspoon size maybe?


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## mike haney

cant help with the spoons, but toothpicks work well.
good luck,mike


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## BeeCurious

Try this:

http://www.mrtakeoutbags.com/store/xfswnaaptspcl.html

"PETITES 4.2" CLEAR PLASTIC TASTING SPOON" can also be found on Amazon. I didn't see what volume they held.


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## sqkcrk

Yeah, but I don't want people dipping into the jar, I want to put a drop on their spoon. I think that that would be somewhat more sanitary.


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## dtompsett

I couldn't find spoons locally, so I picked up popsicle sticks. Let them dip it once. 

Have you tried contacting local kitchen/restaurant supply stores? Visit some ice cream shops (other than BR) and find out where they're getting their spoons?


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## G3farms

Put your taste test honey in a honey bear and there will be no double dipping, double squirting maybe


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## sqkcrk

Thanks guys. I like beecurious' info and will check them out. Also I will go to my local/only rest. that makes sorbet. They may have them or know where to get tem.

I used a honey bear yesterday at the Craft Show, but some people really cringed at the idea of using their finger, especially after theyhad just left the Alpaca display. 

Funny thing is that a woman whose hands looked like she had just left the blacksmith's shop w/out washing wanted the honey right on her dirty finger. "Everybody should eat a little dirt every now and then.", she said.

Thanks again.
sqkcrk


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## Omie

I would much prefer small wooden popsicle sticks to plastic spoons. I hate those plastic taste spoon at ice cream places....they all wind up in the landfill. 
Or how about a little pretzel stick as a taster stick?

Personally, I wouldn't let folks do their own dipping _or_ bear squirting- I can only imagine the mess that some will make dripping honey everywhere and licking stuff. In ice cream places the employees dips the little taster spoon for you behind the counter and then hands it to you. No chance of unsanitary double-dipping or wiping drips off the honeybear tip and then licking fingers then going back for more....eeeew!


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## blueskybeesupply

I like Omie's idea. Pretzels sticks taste better than wood and really get people connected with using honey with other foods. No garbage to dispose of and cheap.


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## sqkcrk

All good ideas, especially about plastics and landfills. I was planning on using them over and over again. after washing them of course.


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## Countryboy

A squirt of honey on a saltine cracker makes a quick snack. Saltine crackers would work good for taste testing honey, and they are cheap and easy to get.

You can always give folks an option too...crackers or a popsickle stick or spoon. See what people go for. If you can get them to taste it, you can get them to buy it.


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## sqkcrk

Countryboy said:


> If you can get them to taste it, you can get them to buy it.


Truer words were never spoken. If that's not an exageration. You know what i mean.


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## suttonbeeman

I have purchased them on Ebay and at a liquor party store in the party area.


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## honeyman46408

I never could find the little spoons so I buy the regular size plastic spoons at "CostCo" 500 for 8 bux, when we sell a "Honey Cup" at the fair we give them a spoon with it.


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## Omie

Little flat wooden ice cream spoons would be perfect:
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=wooden spoons for ice cream&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi
(remember "Dixie Cups" ice cram that came with the little wooden spoon?)


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## BeeCurious

I wouldn't care for the texture of a wooden spoon. The smoothness of the honey would be diminished by the wooden "spoon". IMO

There is also the taste of the wood...


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## Beeslave

Knock yourself out.

http://www.google.com/search?q=plas...ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADBR_en


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## Chef Isaac

We offer two ways to taste honey. Our main way is with pretzel sticks. Why pretzel sticks? Because they are sustainable and their is no waste. Some people have wheat or gluten allergies and then that is when we use the little plastic spoons. We can find cases of them at any restaurant supply store like cash and carry or another restaurant supply store. Costco might have them too. 

On a side note, you physically giving out samples to the customers is time consuming and not very practical. We are currently in 24 farmers markets a week and with the lines and crowds at our booth, it is impossible to hand out samples. We simply have our tasters out in nice jars. Yes, you have to monitor double dipping (which is easy) but when your at the market, you are there to sell and educate to a large amount of people in a short time. When you have 8 different honeys to hand out to one person, it is not practical. 

Check this out:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs059/1102637029445/archive/1103446278905.html (scroll down to the pretzel article)


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## sqkcrk

I agree and understand about what you are saying about tasting and time consumption. I went to my second Show to sell honey and I didn't sell any for the first hour and a half. Then I got agressive and got out from behind my table and offered folks a taste. That's when the sales started happening.

I value your advice and experience.
As i do all that have participated herein.


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## honeyman46408

Well our wonderful state of Indiana has a new law *No open containers *


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## G3farms

sqkcrk said:


> I used a honey bear yesterday at the Craft Show, but some people really cringed at the idea of using their finger, especially after theyhad just left the Alpaca display.


That is why I say use the honey bear AND the plastic spoon. If the potential customer wants a second taste they can have it or if you have several different varieties of honey thy can taste them all and only use the one spoon.


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## MikeJ

How about one of the condiment dispensers... You know it looks like a stainless steel box with a button on the front. A sspout under it. Ypu push on the button (I think it squeezes a bag) and it would dispence honey. You could (I imagine) drill a small hole in the button and place a stop on it so only a small amount of honey comes out? Just something that came to my head as I read.

A dispenser for each - Orange Blossomw, Clover, Goldenrod, Wildflower


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## suttonbeeman

So u r telling me your cant sample honey in Indiana? IF so unreal....another govt employee that needs a proctologist to work on his head! lol


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## oldenglish

I think the small spoon is the best idea, let them use a squeeze bottle to sample for themselves, recycle the spoons. If you wash and sanitize them you could reuse them.
My concern with pretzels is if you hand them one you need to be wearing a latex glove, if you are not you could run afoul of the health dept and if they really want to make life difficult they could hit you for not having a food handling permit. Same problem with the customers reaching into a dish to get there own. I stopped partaking in the pot lucks at work when I saw how many folks do not wash their hands after a visit to the bathroom, and I doubt that is just a work place habit.
I dont like wood, I have tasted honey at markets where they used wood sticks and I could taste the wood with the honey, not what I would want.


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## Chef Isaac

Dave: Long time no talk!  

You cant reuse the plastic spoons even if you wash and santize. It is against the health department rules and more importantly..... against the WSDA (USDA) rules. So you would have to throw them away. Recyling them is not an option either. We looked into that before we decided on pretzels. 

For the pretzels, you do not need gloves at all. Simply open the bag and pou FROM THE BAG into the container and always have tongs for the customers to use. When you use pretzels, the person working the booth must show respect and not dip their hands into the contianer. We had some issues with that but those people are no longer with us!  

We tried the dispenser idea and it didnt work due to the viscoisty of the honey and when the honey crystalized, that was a real big issue. Washing the despenser took forever. Wasent the right option for us. 

This is how we set it up: at the begining of the season (a few weeks before) we ire the selling crew. They all have to get health cards amd then we have a training on proper tasting and sampling. This is more to cover my back really. Then we audit the markets a lot ot make sure the team is in coherance with what we want and what we have to do (as far as sampling, etc). 

Some of the events and markets require us to have hand washing station (5 gallon bucket, free flowing spigot, warm water, paper towels, soap, and small bucket to catch gray water). This wouldnt matter if you are using spoons, toothpicks, etc.... still have to have it in the state of Washington. 

We dont always need health cards but we make the sales team and production team get them anyway. Covers my back and to be frank, I am tired of arguing with the market managers and health department...... EVERY YEAR...... and telling them we fall under WSDA rules, not health department rules. So, we get the health cards. 

Tasting with bears is an option....depending on how you want to set it up. For us, we like the table set up we have. I will try to shoot everyone a picture of that this week. Looks darn good!


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## oldenglish

Hey chef, thanks for the info. Been busy with my hives plus working seven days a week for the man. Now I have a bee allergy to deal with. I guess with tasting there is no single good way to do it, especially if you get busy.


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## Grant

Here's your answer, and they are "green"

They cost about two cents each.

http://www.gelatomarket.com/p-201-wood-sample-spoons.aspx

If you want traditional, plastic spoons, try this link:

http://www.icecreamsupplycompany.com/catalog/item/4024481/3823966.htm

Grant
Jackson, MO


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## Chef Isaac

two cents a pop is expensive. Yikes. 

Pretzels work great for us in our situation. 

Dave: You have a beeeeeee allergy? Whats up with that?


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## Chef Isaac

grant: you got any more books coming out or what?


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## sqkcrk

Alright, closing time Sundance. I have all the info I need. Thanks everybody.


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## G3farms

so what did you decide on??


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## clintonbemrose

I use squeeze bears and pretzel sticks. Cheep and environment friendly.
Clint


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## candlaman

I have almost a full case of the spoons. If you will pay the shipping from Ohio, they are yours.
Candlaman


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## Grant

Chef Isaac said:


> two cents a pop is expensive. Yikes.


Not really. A two-cent investment to sell a $3.00 six-ounce bear? That's cheap. 

When someone at the farmer's market says to me, "Oh, I don't like honey," I ask if I can challenge that assumption. A two-cent spoon with a quarter-cent drop of honey and I've got a sale in most cases.

Sometimes you got to spend a little money to make a little money. You cannot believe the number of kids who come back wanting a free sample. Seldom does it fail to make a sale.

And the plastic spoons I use are only a penny each. I found the other link because that guy was looking for something more environmentally friendly.

Grant
Jackson, MO


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## Grant

Chef Isaac said:


> grant: you got any more books coming out or what?


Yes, but I got to figure out how to create more time in the day. Bees take a lot of time, so do many new beekeepers asking for advice on their first year hives. Farmer's markets are going like gang-busters.

It's a great time to be in the buzziness.

Grant
Jackson, MO


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## Chef Isaac

grant: you are right on 2 cents but we take 8 honeys to the market.... someone tries all the honey and that is .16 cents in spoons. .16 spoons times 25 markets a week adds up. 

just my 2 CENTS. lol


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## sqkcrk

G3farms said:


> so what did you decide on??


Gonna go w/ inexpensive silver wear and wash the spoons. Or maybe plastic spoons and wash tem too. I don't do alot of tastings.

We had a nice honey sampling at church last sunday. It was my turn to Host Coffee Hour. It was fun. Used spoons out of the drawer and washed them after.


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## Chef Isaac

consider asking the health department about washing the plastic spoons. It is no legal in Washington and Oregon.


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## sqkcrk

Yeah, I wondered about that.


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## G3farms

Chef Isaac said:


> grant: you are right on 2 cents but we take 8 honeys to the market.... someone tries all the honey and that is .16 cents in spoons. .16 spoons times 25 markets a week adds up.
> 
> just my 2 CENTS. lol



Use the same spoon to taste all 8 different honeys, that is why you use the bears to squirt out a sample on the spoon..............no cross contamination.
Have nice jars for presentation and a bear sitting in front of them for tasting.


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## ekrouse

*Here You Go...Tiny Plastic tasting Spoons*

I've had great success with these 3" plastic taster spoons from InstaWares. Originally found them at the NY State Fair at the beekeeping assoc booth where they were used for honey samples. Just over 1-cent each..

http://www.instawares.com/taster-sp...0.7.htm?LID=GGLE&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=70037

If you want wooden spoons, they've got them too.

http://www.instawares.com/taster-sp...ID=GGLE&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=PFS-ASO24SSKIL

http://www.instawares.com/2-75in-wo...m?LID=GGLE&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=PFS-GREEN70

-ekrouse


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## bkmuir

I was at a sorbet shop this summer, where they used "earth friendly" serving/eating utensils. The spoons were made out of cornstarch I think.

I like the pretzel, or breadstick idea - no waste at all!


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## raosmun

Queen Right Colonies has them.


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## JohnK and Sheri

Schorin Co, Inc out of PA.
http://www.schorin.com/browse.cfm/2,35.html

I just ordered a box of 3000 Monday; Item TS3000. They shipped Tuesday, and arrived yesterday, Wednesday.
The cost was $28.30, shipping was $13.50.
Easy online ordering.

Sheri


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## Slabaugh Apiaries

Gordon Foods Servises has them 200 for $5.00
http://www.gfs.com/
work great for tasting
Danny


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## Grant

And sometimes you can find good deals on regular-sized spoons (yeah, takes more honey) at any of those "dollar" stores.

Grant
Jackson, MO http://www.maxhoney.homestead.com


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