The Smood

Potato mashers have been around nearly forever, and the original design still works. But that hasn't stopped people from trying to improve upon that design.

I have a few new mashers among my collection of kitchen tools, but I still use the oldest one in my collection. It's my mother's big old sturdy masher with a burn mark on the wooden handle.

In my kitchen, I prefer like mashing potatoes by hand rather than using an electric hand mixer. First, an electric mixer can sometime result in gluey mashed potatoes.

Another reason I stay away from the electric mixer is that I have a horrible childhood memory of the time I used an electric mixer to whip potatoes. When the potatoes were served there were flecks of green in them.

It took us a minute or two to realize that I had whipped those potatoes in the pot my mother had cooked them in - and it was a Teflon-coated pot. Yup, those green flecks were Teflon that got scraped off the pot.

The potatoes were ruined, and so was the pot. Oopsie.

When the Smood showed up, I was really curious about the design. It looked cool, it made sense, and the silicone edge for pot-scraping was a nice addition - not just for the safety of coated pots, but just because it does a better job. That's why you grab a silicone spatula instead of a metal spoon when you want to get the last bits of food out of a jar or bowl.

But the whole point is mashing. The conical spring does a pretty good job of trapping potatoes underneath, and when you press down, the space between the spring wires gets smaller and smaller as it mashes and smashes and squishes the potatoes up through the springs.

It's kind of hard to describe exactly how it works, but the video from Dreamfarm shows it pretty well, with some catchy music. And it's an extremely short video.

The test of any kitchen gadget - for me - is whether I keep reaching for it. And yes, this is the one I look for when there's mashing to be done. I haven't used my old masher since this showed up. It works quickly and it makes a smooth mash.

Who's it for: People who are looking for a better alternative to a traditional masher.

Pros: Works well. The silicone edge is great for scraping the sides or bottom of the pot.

Cons: The masher is pretty big, so you'll have to find a good place to store it. It's also a little pricey compared to cheap mashers.

Wishes: Hmmmm.... I kind of like it the way it is.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.