Tea Bag Squeezer Tongs

 I got these so many years ago. I was told that they were for squeezing tea bags before pulling them out. And I occasionally use them for that. But they have proven so useful for so many other things that tea bags are one of the more infrequent uses for them. 

I went to find them for you, and couldn't. That was surprising to me. What I found was completely not useful in the way I've been using them. I finally tracked down two versions. The first one, with all the weird silicon snail things, is what I have. (https://amzn.to/2PzwhxW) This second one is now on my order list, because just this morning I was wishing for a version with longer handles. (https://amzn.to/3a4FesU) The shape of the strainer is actually part of the usefulness.

I use the two I have for quite a few things. Today it was pulling olives and holding them while I cut them. I also used them to pull artichoke hearts for chopping. And pickles from the pickle jar.  I use them for pretty much anything that is in a liquid where I need the solid item out of the liquid and it's too small for a strainer. Or I need to keep the liquid. Or I'm not emptying the jar. 

The reason I want a longer handled set? I have a half gallon jar of refrigerator pickles that I want to be able to reach the bottom of. I also have some quart jars of zucchini/yellow squash cubes in juice that are a dehydrator experiment. The larger ones won't work for things like cutting olives. But they will let me reach the bottom of the large jar of them.

Regardless, these have proven to be pretty useful despite my original doubts as to their usefulness. And if you think of new uses, please let me know.