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enter image description here

What is this device called? The length is exactly 12 inches.

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    It would be great to provide some kind of reference for the size (a ruler for instance)
    – WoJ
    Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 13:38
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    – Stephie ♦
    Commented Jan 7, 2020 at 17:35

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I don’t know if it has an official name, but it’s a spaghetti tool. The holes are for measuring portions and the tines are for stirring in the boiling water and for serving after it’s strained.

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    It's a "plastic pasta server/measurer" on alibaba alibaba.com/product-detail/…
    – stanri
    Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 16:00
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    I can also confirm this answer. My mom had one of these when I was a kid in the 80's-90's.
    – computercarguy
    Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 18:49
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This tool is certainly labelled as a pasta server/measurer on Alibaba. It doesn't look useful for such, though. It looks more like an herb stripping tool.

Here's a link on amazon to a similar product.

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    Other than identifying the tool as "like an herb stripping tool", this answer just plain wrong. It looks similar to the herb-stripping tool, because form follows function, and the mechanical aspects are similar. But the tool being asked about is definitely a pasta tool, and is definitely not an herb-stripper. It is larger than an herb-stripper, the holes are typically marked specifically for pasta serving sizes, and the spoon shape provides a means for picking up not just spaghetti, linguini, etc. that the tines work with but also smaller pasta shapes.
    – Peter Duniho
    Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 18:37
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    @PeterDuniho I'd add as well that the other central claim of this answer is also definitely wrong - the tool does look useful for pasta serving/measuring.
    – Alex M
    Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 22:19
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    My guess is this item is way too big for herb stripping, but it's admittedly hard to tell from the picture.
    – Kat
    Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 22:50
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    @PeterDuniho you put a handful of spaghetti through the holes, to get 1/2/4 servings or perhaps 100/200/300g or some such. Very quick and convenient. The prongs let you fish spaghetti out of the water easily. I would say it's not a general-purpose pasta tool, but one limited to long pasta for the fishing, and to long hard pasta for measuring, and even then best at spaghetti (with round cross-section giving a predictable area) and worse at long hard flat noodles (where packing could give more or less solid a cross section than spaghetti).
    – Swiss Frank
    Commented Jan 7, 2020 at 5:05
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    @Swiss: you don't need to explain to me how to use the tool. I have one that I've owned for 30+ years. And I have found it useful for dealing with all types of pasta. YMMV.
    – Peter Duniho
    Commented Jan 7, 2020 at 7:23

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