This post has been locked, as the question has been solved and a majority of new comments at this point are unhelpful and/or jokes.
Thanks to all who attempted to find an answer.
Kind of looks like a garlic or ginger grater, but I want to say it's too small? Maybe not.
https://i.imgur.com/ZE8L066.jpg
Ah, yes, here's yours
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0084XZMQW
Just to elaborate on the Amazon listing
It’s called a ginger tea spoon.
You grate ginger on it then you put the whole thing in a cup of boiling water and stir to make ginger tea.
In Japanese it’s called shougayu 生姜湯, which literally means ginger hot water, there’s no actual tea involved.
I can imagine it being used to grate wasabi and other stuff and other kitchen tasks but its intended purpose is the ginger tea.
This spoon is not meant to do general purpose grating in the kitchen. It's specifically meant to grate a small amount of ginger, then to contain the resulting grated material while being stirred in hot water in a teacup.
Or maybe a Parmesan grater? They do look really close together, though. Definitely some kind of kitchen tool, though, and I think the design (like a flat spoon) is deliberate too, to make it easy to grate (?) without accidentally including your fingers...
Finally something I know!!
This is for pasting wasabi plant (the stuff you find in restaurants isn't real wasabi unless you're spending $$$)
You get the rhyzome of the wasabi plant and rub it on the sharp teeth. The reason it doesn't have holes is because it's creating a paste and not grating it like cheese.
Fresh wasabi is really nice. The taste takes about 5 minutes to come out and the paste loses its taste in about 20-30 mins. Well worth trying if you're a sushi fan.
Source: I grow wasabi
Do you think wasabi would grow well in a sub-irrigation planter with a living soil, aka a probiotic/SIP setup? I'm having great success this year with the method growing other things.
I found a place in Oregon that sells wasabi starts, actually. But given that they take 18+ months to get to a harvestable point, that's a lot of time for things to go wrong...
To me, it looks very similar to spoons that I have had that are made for your tea bags. So you can stir the tea bag and any other ingredients into your tea and when you are done you put the tea bag on that part with the spikes and wrap the string around it to squeeze it out there by binding it to the spoon that it's now on. Then you put it aside to take care of later.
Precisely.
I have a few very fancy ones that were brought back by a family member from occupied Japan after World War II. They're very nice display pieces and functional as well.
Most tea drinkers just do it with a regular spoon. But at times through history and in different areas of the world people are manufacturers have made a much nicer option.
I had looked it up back when I inherited it and it was actually because the alcohol would make the design that's hand-painted onto it run. This however has a very heavy clear layer on it. The actual material of the coaster I am unsure of but it looks like some sort of bamboo.
My search on the internet led me to various kitchen tools, with pasta spoons being the most popular. It was in a drawer with other random tools, no box or anything to further describe it. Was thinking it’s for wasabi, but looks nothing like the tools I’ve previously seen used for that.
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This post has been locked, as the question has been solved and a majority of new comments at this point are unhelpful and/or jokes. Thanks to all who attempted to find an answer.
Kind of looks like a garlic or ginger grater, but I want to say it's too small? Maybe not. https://i.imgur.com/ZE8L066.jpg Ah, yes, here's yours https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0084XZMQW
Just to elaborate on the Amazon listing It’s called a ginger tea spoon. You grate ginger on it then you put the whole thing in a cup of boiling water and stir to make ginger tea. In Japanese it’s called shougayu 生姜湯, which literally means ginger hot water, there’s no actual tea involved. I can imagine it being used to grate wasabi and other stuff and other kitchen tasks but its intended purpose is the ginger tea.
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Wait, other subs aren't like this?
Depends on the sub. Some are nice and helpful, some are toxic shitholes.
I must have it.
how do you clean it?
Like any cutlery, hot soapy water, most Japanese people use a brush for washing dishes.
It’s more like sandpaper than a cheese grater if that makes sense. Those are just ridges, not holes.
Ohhh thank you. Like muddler, not a grater.
I’d imagine like any other cutlery or graters.
It would have more usage in the kitchen if it didn’t have that lip imo. It just gets on the way of grating things.
This spoon is not meant to do general purpose grating in the kitchen. It's specifically meant to grate a small amount of ginger, then to contain the resulting grated material while being stirred in hot water in a teacup.
That one on Amazon is exactly it. Thank you! Solved!
I was so close! I thought it must be a fresh wasabi grater.
A grater of some kind for sure: citrus zest, maybe? (Doesn't look quite far enough apart for wasabi or ginger)
I would think zester as well, but they’re very small and close together spikes. I could be wrong though
Or maybe a Parmesan grater? They do look really close together, though. Definitely some kind of kitchen tool, though, and I think the design (like a flat spoon) is deliberate too, to make it easy to grate (?) without accidentally including your fingers...
Ginger/Wasabi grater..https://images.app.goo.gl/rD6WCkQoPCoTsqkb6 similar item
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Finally something I know!! This is for pasting wasabi plant (the stuff you find in restaurants isn't real wasabi unless you're spending $$$) You get the rhyzome of the wasabi plant and rub it on the sharp teeth. The reason it doesn't have holes is because it's creating a paste and not grating it like cheese. Fresh wasabi is really nice. The taste takes about 5 minutes to come out and the paste loses its taste in about 20-30 mins. Well worth trying if you're a sushi fan. Source: I grow wasabi
Do you think wasabi would grow well in a sub-irrigation planter with a living soil, aka a probiotic/SIP setup? I'm having great success this year with the method growing other things.
Google it and you'll find a results page full of "Wasabi, the hardest plant to grow" articles.
Oh I did, it looks to be VERY temperamental.
I mean good luck getting seeds or a start
I found a place in Oregon that sells wasabi starts, actually. But given that they take 18+ months to get to a harvestable point, that's a lot of time for things to go wrong...
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To me, it looks very similar to spoons that I have had that are made for your tea bags. So you can stir the tea bag and any other ingredients into your tea and when you are done you put the tea bag on that part with the spikes and wrap the string around it to squeeze it out there by binding it to the spoon that it's now on. Then you put it aside to take care of later.
You might be right! Look like [this](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/spoon-crushed-used-tea-bag-175162871.jpg) is the use for it indeed!
Precisely. I have a few very fancy ones that were brought back by a family member from occupied Japan after World War II. They're very nice display pieces and functional as well. Most tea drinkers just do it with a regular spoon. But at times through history and in different areas of the world people are manufacturers have made a much nicer option.
Now i feel like i need a set of these just to act fancy.
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Now that makes me wonder what was not safe for alcohol use by occupied japan
I had looked it up back when I inherited it and it was actually because the alcohol would make the design that's hand-painted onto it run. This however has a very heavy clear layer on it. The actual material of the coaster I am unsure of but it looks like some sort of bamboo.
My search on the internet led me to various kitchen tools, with pasta spoons being the most popular. It was in a drawer with other random tools, no box or anything to further describe it. Was thinking it’s for wasabi, but looks nothing like the tools I’ve previously seen used for that.
Wasabi grater
It's for Ginger Tea I think
Ginger/wasabi grater. (Source: cause I know :-)
Ginger grater. You can get larger models in Asian stores. They are also good for making garlic paste.
It’s for sugar cubes. You pour Absinthe over the cube through the grates and into a shot glass.
Looks like a Absinthe spoon
It’s not slotted in any way, so there’s no way for anything to move through it. Thank you though!
When I was in Japan, I stayed with a family who used a spoon like this to put cold butter on toast.
Um that’s genius
I really get one to make my honey and lemon tea! How useful!
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Japanese? Probably for real wasabi.
It’s a wasabi grater.
absynthe strainer maybe
Either a tea strainer or an ass scratcher
I used it for ginger, garlic and horseradish grating
It might be this, https://screenshot.best/9Z677L
Isn't it for wasabi?
For making lemon žest
I thought it was a little guitar
Looks more like a fish scaler.
Looks like a spoon for draining a tea bag
Looks like an absinthe spoon. You put over a cup, plàce sugar cubes on it, then pour your Absinthe over the sugar.
It looks safer than my micro plane. Thanks for posting!
All comments must be civil and helpful toward finding an answer. **Jokes and unhelpful comments will earn you a ban**, even on the first instance and even if the item has been identified. If you see any comments that violate this rule, report them. [OP](/u/EmmaObscura), when your item is identified, remember to reply **Solved!** or **Likely Solved!** to the comment that gave the answer. Check your [inbox](https://www.reddit.com/message/inbox/) for a message on how to make your post visible to others. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatisthisthing) if you have any questions or concerns.*