All About Potato Mashers

Its mashed potato time!

History of Mashed Potatoes

Potatoes are a New World food. The Incas cultivated the vegetable for centuries before the arrival of the Spanish in Peru in the 1500s. A hearty vegetable, it can grow at elevations well above where other staples, such as corn, can be grown. Indigenous populations throughout the Americas incorporated potatoes into their diet but it is the Incans that seemed to prefer theirs mashed.

Potatoes gained popularity and moved throughout the Continent of Europe after Spain had introduced the unique produce. The poor and downtrodden of Europe and Great Britain recognized what a value the potato was. A vegetable that grew underground out of the reach of marauding armies and the foraging and burnt earth they leave in their wake.

Potatoes were in fact a comfort. The Brits introduced mashed potatoes and gravy in the form of bangers and mash in the 17th century. Ironically, it would be the Brits who brought mashed potatoes and gravy to the first Thanksgiving. Thus bringing full circle a vegetable and a style of cooking that had originated in the New World.

How to make mashed potatoes

It's all in the potato masher. Using a mixer, food processor or ricer as a potato masher will damage the potatoes on a cellular level and make them overly sticky and smooth them to an unnatural and less than satisfactory consistency. Potato mashers should leave some of the potato intact so that the food is still identifiable. The potato masher should also leave an amount of the potato intact so that the starch does not activate and become more of an adhesive than a comestible.

Types of potato mashers

There are two main types of potato mashers. The most popular has an S wound wire that is flat at the bottom, about 7 to 8 inches long, with a heavy wood or plastic handle. This is the potato masher your grandmother would have had. Because of the room between these S winds there is never the worry of over-mashing the potatoes.

The other type of masher is the kind that has a round disc with quarter inch holes drilled into it. It is also around 7 inches long and has a heavy plastic or wood handle. The biggest downfall for this type of potato masher is that it has the ability to over mash the potatoes and produces an inferior dish.

Neither of these devices should be confused with a Texas potato masher, which is actually a television antenna.

More information on potato mashers