An Actifry™ comes with a distinctive, friendly-looking green measuring spoon for use in measuring the standard “tablespoon of oil” in most recipes.

On many Actifry models you can simply store the green spoon on top of the paddle’s central pedestal: the hole in the spoon’s handle hooks onto it.

You’ll see what I mean by the photo below. (For the 2 in 1 model, it goes over top the pedestal of the top tray.)

You must not make the mistake of leaving the spoon stored on top the paddle when the machine is in use.

Nor, make the mistake in a hurry of unthinkingly tossing the spoon into the cooking bowl before turning the machine on.

In short, the spoon shouldn’t be any place inside the machine while superheated air is happening.

The following screen capture is from the manual for the UK standard Actifry model; they’re so empathetic that you shouldn’t have the spoon inside the machine during operation, that they even repeat it twice:

Okay, we get it: the spoon is plastic, and there is going to be some very concentrated, superheated hot air blowing around that would be bad for the plastic spoon.

So, that being said, what happens when you do anyway? (You knew this was coming, didn’t you?)

Here’s the result:

Melted Actifry Spoon

You end up with something that looks like a Martian baby spoon.

You’ll be devastated (as I was), because the groovy spoon is one of the niftiest things about your Actifry.

You can order a new one from the Tefal / T-fal company in your country, or from the many online Actifry parts stores.

Or you can keep on using it, bearing one thing in mind:

The capacity of the partially melted spoon will likely be smaller than what it was, because it has shrunk down. Consequently, ignore the “max fill” line on the spoon, if it’s still visible and fill with oil right up to the rim. In the comparison of the pre and post melt spoons above, filling the melted spoon right to the brim with water and pouring that water into the unharmed spoon just fills the unmelted spoon to the “max” line.

Or, if you’re in North America, you could always just use a tablespoon measurement from a regular measuring spoon set — which is 15 ml. Close enough to the 14 ml / 15 ml capacity that I’ve seen the green spoon described as. Elsewhere, you could just figure out a spoon from your drawer that comes close to 15 ml.

Still, using kitchen drawer substitutes wouldn’t be quite as exciting as using the groovy green spoon, would it?

* Actifry™ is a registered trademark of SEB, France.