Wooden ladle
Nairn Museum

This wooden ladle with a hooked handle would have been very common in households in across the Highlands. Versatile objects, they were used for stirring dishes or as a drinking spoon to serve milk or soup.

Most ladles would have been hung on a dresser or by a range. Plates, bowls and spoons were all once made of wood, handmade often from elm or sycamore.

Though nowadays we’d never think of using wood for crockery, unless for single-use, these close-grained woods did not easily absorb food or affect the quality of the food they came into contact with. This particular ladle may even have been used for serving porridge.