Our Salad Years

An alert reader of the Courier-Journal has pointed out to me that the exquisitely made Kentucky Springs salad tongs were featured in yesterday's Scene section. We've been selling these for years at the cutlery and using them at home, too!

What's wonderful about these tongs is the design. Unlike a lot of tongs out there, these are designed so that they can be used in just one hand. It works, and far more stylishly than those cheap metal lunchlady tongs! Each pair of tongs is hand steamed and bent into shape until cool to create the distinctive springs. The springs keep the salad tongs open for the user, and when flipped inside out, they allow the salad tongs to fold flat for storage.

The tips of handcrafted Kentucky Spring salad tongs are curved to fit the rounded bottoms of salad bowls. A slight curve is bent along the entire length of handcrafted salad tong piece so the tips meet perfectly, which allows you to get a really good grip on elusive bits of salad or pasta. The types of wood vary from unstained wild cherry, to sugar maple or black walnut.

Another item Kentucky Springs makes that I love (and only received a brief mention in the C-J article) are their cheese slicers.

They are available in the same woods as the tongs, and come in two varieties: straight or Ripple. The latter is the one shown to the right. If you slice at the right angle, you can get a piece of cheese that's as wavy as a potato chip! The cutting wire is especially effective with soft cheeses, but also cuts softer hard cheeses. Works on butter and chocolate, too. You can get different thickness of slices by just changing the angle you hold the slicer at.

I think these make great hostess gifts or stocking stuffers. The tongs in particular would be a good gift for someone who is just starting out with their own apartment (hint, hint!).
You can drop by our store and get them, or order them online. Of course, if you get them in the store, they can be wrapped in our traditional silvery paper with your choice of ribbon colors. It's a very popular option, this time of year.
How do you think I learned to wrap presents so well? ;)