13 Mysterious Kitchen Items Whose Purpose Might Perplex Even the Smartest Among Us

There are many mysterious things around us that we have no idea how to use. This is especially common among kitchen appliances. People have created many things that make cooking and other household activities easier. The only problem is that we can’t immediately figure out how to use them.

At Bright Side, we couldn’t guess the purpose of almost any of these 13 items when we first saw them. Check your mental agility too. And in the bonus section, you’ll see a couple of items that just seem to be tableware.

“This item in our kitchen, we’re not quite sure what it is.”

Answer: It’s a pastry cutter.

“We found these in our family silver set. It’s a full dining set, but we weren’t sure what these 2 pieces were used for.”

Answer: The first item is a perforated serving spoon for peas. The other one is a stilton scoop.

“What is this spur on the back of my pizza slicer?”

Answer:

• Front blade would cut, back wheel crimps to press the sides together keeping the filling inside. The back wheel isn’t meant to cut.
• I think the hot cheese would seek to reconnect and the small back wheel might create an easily torn dotted line if it did after the first blade cut it.

“I found it in the basement of a German house that was built shortly before World War II.”

Answer: It’s a mortar and pestle.

“What is this tiny saucepan thing my husband inherited? It has a removable thing with holes around the edges.”

Answer: This is a device for cooking eggs. You put water in the bottom and an egg on top. It essentially poaches the egg.

Stainless steel flatware with slats about the size of a teaspoon. The back says “stainless steel Japan” but no other markings.

Answer: “They’re for buttering corn in the cob. We had them when I was a kid.”

“It was titled at auction as ‘sewing bag’ but it’s completely padded inside and I have no idea what it’s for.”

Answer: It’s a tea cozy. The generic tea cozy is more hat-shaped than suitcase-shaped.

“I found these 2 weird items in my old stuff a few days back.”

Answer: The one on the left is a fork for pickled cucumbers, you can pick up a cucumber in a jar with it, and put it on a plate. The one on the right is a trough for cutting cabbage, meat, or mushrooms.

“It looks like a large faucet filter. I can’t remember where it came from.”

Answer: It’s an inside filter for a kettle or a coffee machine spout.

“I found this thing buried in the backyard.”

Answer: “It’s a waffle iron. My grandmother had one identical to this and she used to make waffles in a pot-bellied stove for me and my brother when we were little kids.”

This long rod with a non-sticky base and a detachable middle was donated to the thrift store.

Answer: It’s used to cool drinks. Put the metal in the freezer to make it cold then when you place the whole thing in a bottle, it will chill the drink while the rubber part plugs the bottle.

“What’s this thing?”

Answer: It’s a jar opener. You can remove a jar lid without damaging it and use it again.

“Our opinions are split. What is it — an uncut fork or an unbent spoon?”

Answer: It’s a spatula for mustard.

Bonus 1: “It was a gift but I don’t want to ask what it is.”

Answer: This is a propagation vase.

Bonus 2: “I found these 2 spoons attached to a wooden handle at the thrift store.”

Answer: It’s a musical instrument literally called “spoons.”

Bonus 3: A mystery piece of Limoges china. It’s too big to be a cup for a boiled egg. What is it?

This is still unsolved. One answer said, “You put half orange/grapefruit and eat with spoon.” An eBay listing also validates this idea. That said, the OP thought it was too small for these fruits, adding: “We tried that too, but too small for grapefruit or orange.”

What do you think the last item is? Have you ever seen an item whose purpose you couldn’t identify? Tell us in the comments below.