Instant mashed potatoes facts for kids
Instant mashed potatoes are a quick and easy way to make mashed potatoes. They are made from real potatoes that have been cooked, mashed, and then dried. You just add hot water or milk to them, and they become like regular mashed potatoes. You can find them in many different flavors!
These instant potatoes come as flakes or small grains. This helps them mix smoothly without lumps when you add liquid. Other similar instant foods include instant poi (from taro) and instant fufu (from yams). Poha is an instant rice dish, much like other instant porridges. Popular brands include Smash and Idahoan Foods.
You will most often find flaked instant mashed potatoes in stores in the United States and Canada. The granulated (grainy) forms are usually used more in restaurants or large kitchens.
How Instant Mashed Potatoes Were Invented
People have been drying starchy root vegetables for a long time. This helped them save food and carry it easily. For example, the Incas in ancient times freeze dried potatoes to make chuño. In Japan, the Ainu cuisine also used dried, frozen potatoes.
The first patent for a product like instant potatoes was given in 1912. It was for "Dehydrate Potatoes and Process of Preparing the Same." Ernest William Cooke developed this idea in 1905. His product was meant to be mixed with hot water.
The flake-form instant mashed potatoes we know today came later. In 1954, two researchers from the United States Department of Agriculture got a patent. It was for "Drum drying of cooked mashed potatoes." This method created the thin flakes we see in packages.
Then, in 1962, a Canadian scientist named Edward A. Asselbergs received a patent. His patent was for an industrial way to make dehydrated cooked mashed potato. This helped make instant mashed potatoes available to many more people.
What's in Instant Mashed Potatoes?
Instant mashed potatoes have more sodium (salt) than fresh potatoes. They also have less dietary fiber. But in other ways, they are similar to fresh mashed potatoes in terms of nutrition. They are mostly starch (about two-thirds by dry weight). They also have smaller amounts of protein and vitamins.
One big difference is that instant potatoes can lose some vitamin C. However, some products add vitamins back in to make up for this. For example, 100 grams of instant mashed potatoes usually have 11% of the daily recommended Dietary Reference Intake of vitamin C. Fresh potatoes, on the other hand, provide about 18%.
Other Ways to Use Instant Mashed Potatoes
- They can be used as a thickener in gravy, soups, and sauces.
- You can use them to help start a Sourdough bread mixture.
- They can be a good substitute for bread crumbs in recipes.
