The last innovation in forks, Muise notes, was in the early 1800s when they went from three tines to four tines. “This is complacency,” he said. “And it’s also profitability. You can manufacture a fork made out of steel for dirt cheap.”

One of the big issues they wanted to tackle was taste.

“For some people, it’s noticeably metallic or bitter” to eat with a stainless steel utensil, Muise said. “When your food, the metal, the unique pH balance of your saliva and or any dental work you may have is interacting with food, your fork or your spoon becomes, in essence, the final arbiter of flavor.”

There’s also the issue of the transfer of heat and cold. Put a metal spoon into hot soup, and within seconds the spoon is really hot and the soup is cooling, Muise and Todd say. Similarly, ice cream sticks to stainless spoons, like a tongue on a frozen flagpole.

Hold up a utensil at home, and you’ll see lots of microabrasions and perhaps some pitting on the stainless steel, which can affect texture and provide hiding places for bacteria.

Muise and the Todds (Bill Todd’s wife, Rachel Rodrigues, is a business partner) have applied for provisional patents on both the ceramics-making process they developed and their designs. The project is entirely self-funded.

There are only three pieces to the Certine set because, Muise said, “we were interested in sustainable dematerialization, which in essence says if you’re using a material that’s a commodity try to use less of it, but get more function out of it.” Muise muses that the only reason to keep a set of five pieces is tradition.

The Certine spoon can hold as much as a tablespoon, but it is tapered at the top so it can fit into, say, a yogurt container. The fork has two interior piercing tines and two shorter exterior tines, making it a combination of a salad and dinner fork. The fork also has a rounded shoulder that creates a fulcrum for people who like to cut their food with their fork.

The cutlery is much smoother than stainless steel – no more microabrasions – and can only be scratched with diamond or boxite, Muise said. The flatware, especially the fork, can break if misused – don’t try prying open cans or dropping the pieces from a great height – but for normal daily use, it is very durable, he said. “The knife and spoon are pretty tough,” Muise said.

One set of Certine costs $39.95; a set of four is $159.60. This clearly puts it in the premium flatware category, but Muise and Todd don’t mind. It can be purchased from their website https://certine.com/ , on Amazon.com, and at Casco Bay Cutlery & Kitchenware in Freeport; Now You’re Cooking in Bath; the Good Table in Belfast; and Rooster Brother in Ellsworth.