One of nature’s very useful materials, horn (Ox, Buffalo, Stag, Ram and Bison) has historically been utilized in a number of applications. As seen here, it’s a material particularly suited to spoons. A true connoisseur of caviar and soft-boiled egg eating will tell you, nothing taints the flavor like metal, and horn offers an unrivalled purity of taste.
It is a renewable resource, relatively easy to carve, and a good polishing results in a glassy luster. In addition to carving, the gelatin present in animal horns softens up when heated, allowing for it to be flattened and separated into sheets that can be formed into whatever shape necessary.
Cow Horn
Technically speaking, it’s the sulfur in egg white and in caviar that tarnish the metal and change the taste. Mother of pearl has actually the same quality as horn, and is therefore also used for fine spoons. Horn (and mother of pearl) spoons are also used by homeopathic pharmacists to measure and administer medicine because metal can sometimes effect the potency of the substances.
Over time, horn slowly loses its natural oils and therefore requires a bit of maintenance, an occasional rub with oil. The range of patterns and colors from horns is remarkable. A set of six spoons from one horn will result in six very different spoons.
5 Comments
do they make horn forks as well?
sophiekieran likes this
I love my horn spoon to eat my boiled egg for breakfast. It is comfortable in your hand, stylish and taste neutral. Not very cheap, but worth buying it. However, I never saw a horn fork.
Before the invention of plastics, horn was often used as such. Nowadays, horn is mainly used to produce buttons, combs, spoons, knife-handles and Jewellery. Unfortunately, often immitated by cheaper plastics or, like for combs and buttons, functional almost displaced. What a great pity!
Michael - There are horn forks and knives. I read that they are recommended for people with a nickel allergy or a heavy metal contamination (or those scared of getting a heavy metal contamination from silver or stainless steel). That said, the egg lovers of the world have worked over time to catapult the spoon to horn celebrity status.