Fruit and Dessert Course Etiquette

A “dessert service,” usually consisting of  a dessert fork and knife, or dessert fork and spoon, all 3, or even a nut pick and fruit knife, along with a finger bowl, are brought out for each guest prior to dessert being served. “The two pieces (of flatware) are… standard practice and socially experienced hostesses use them because time and custom have proved that two pieces are functionally better than one.”— Mary D. Chambers, 1923

For dessert and fruit, you have a choice of two ways: 

(1) The dessert plate with the dessert silver on it and a second plate for fruit with the finger bowl and its doily on it with the fruit fork at the left and the fruit knife at the right. This is actually a two-course dessert service. 

(2) It is much simpler and equally as good service if you will set the finger bowl and its matching glass plate on the fruit plate with or without a doily between. Then place the dessert silver on the glass plate. The diner will remove the dessert silver and the finger bowl; the glass plate will be used as the dessert plate. After the dessert has been eaten, this plate is removed leaving the fruit plate ready for fruit. Should a fruit knife and fork be required, it can be brought at this time.

Today the above manner of serving dessert and fruit is confined to the home where the staff is expertly trained in traditional service. So few Americans take fruit after dessert; consequently the simple service for dessert is all that you will need.

Have the finger bowls about a third full of water. It's a nice note to add two or three flower petals or a small leaf, perhaps a tiny blossom, to the water; it helps to turn a routine procedure into an occasion.

Because more and more hostesses are omitting finger bowls (alas! since it is a gracious custom), they are placing the dessert silver at the top of the place setting and proceeding with dessert.

Why Two Pieces of Silver for Dessert?

The question is frequently asked, why is it necessary to have both the dessert fork and the dessert spoon for the dessert service? Why can't you use just the fork, say for pie or cake, and only the spoon when the dessert is ice cream or something else less solid?

Of course the single piece may be used and many hostesses do just that. The two pieces are, however, standard practice and socially experienced hostesses use them because time and custom have proved that two pieces are functionally better than one.— Mary D. Chambers, 1923

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Gilded Age Savories and Desserts

 It has always been poor manners for a guest to take more than his or her share of the foods offered.– “One American young woman, given the honor of dining at the Tsar’s table, was very embarrassed when she clipped off a grape stem with some ten or twelve grapes. Everyone else was careful to take only two or three. She received many hard looks from the other ladies for her greed.” -Above is shown an 1880’s butterfly design pair of grape shears. These were also marketed as “flower shears.” 

The Savory Course

The savory was seen as the last chance to whip up the jaded appetite for the end of the meal. It consisted of some extremely tasty food served as a sort of appetizer before the last course of the meal— the dessert course.

This course was normally dropped from American Victorian meals, which instead featured two types of sweet foods. The sweet course was often a pudding or cake. Then ice cream was served as the savory. The English moved this course to the end of the meal, following the dessert. They often served anchovies, which seems very odd to Americans today who are used to ending a meal on a sweet note. The French often served cheese as their savory course, or would combine the cheese with the fruit of the dessert course.

The Dessert Course

Dessert in the French tradition meant “fruit.” Fruit for many years was one of the few sources of a sweet taste. By the seventeenth century sugar from sugarcane was available, although at a high price, but the tradition of serving fruit at the end of the meal remained common.

With fruit becoming more common and less important as a source of sugar, the method of showing status in the dessert course changed. Upper-class Victorians gloried in serving fruit in winter. This serving of fruit out of season showed that the host had gone to the expense of buying fruit shipped in from southern areas (which in the early days before refrigerated box cars and ships bespoke expense because of the large waste due to spoilage) or grown in local hot houses. 

To serve grapes, oranges, and so on while the snow laid high on the ground outside was a sign of wealth and taste. The Tsars often showed their wealth and power in this way. But, even the wealth of the tsars had limits. One American young woman, given the honor of dining at the Tsar’s table, was very embarrassed when she clipped off a grape stem with some ten or twelve grapes. Everyone else was careful to take only two or three. She received many hard looks from the other ladies for her greed. – From Forgotten Elegance, 2002

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia