A chinois (. [ʃin.wɑ]) is a conical sieve with an extremely fine mesh. It is used to strain custards, purees, soups, and sauces, producing a very smooth texture. It can also be used to dust food with a fine layer of powdered ingredient. Chinois is a loanword from the French adjective meaning Chinese. A related utensil is the tamis-a flat strainer through which food is pressed with a scraper or pestle. A similarly-shaped utensil is the China cap, a reference to the conical Asian hats common in China.