Tater Tots, also known as "Tots", a registered trademark for a commercial form of hash browns, is a side-dish made from deep-fried, grated potatoes. Tater Tots are widely recognized by their crispiness, cylindrical shape and small size.

Tater Tots are commonly found in the U.S. in cafeterias and school lunch-counters, as well as the supermarket frozen food aisle and some fast food restaurants. In Australia, they are known as "potato gems" or "potato pom-poms" (also used in New Zealand). In the UK, Ross Frozen Foods once produced "oven crunchies" which are no longer available. McCain Foods Limited calls their line of tater tots Tasti Taters. Cascadian Farm calls their line of tater tots Spud Puppies. Some Mexican-style fast-food restaurants in the Pacific Northwest offer seasoned tater tots: Taco Time and Señor Frog's call them "Mexi-Fries", while Taco Bell used to sell them as "Mexi-Nuggets". In some areas of the Northeast USA, however, they are often called "juliennes" or "potato puffs." Safeway Inc. has a generic brand called "Tater Treats". The Burger King fast food franchise recently established a tater tot variant, dubbed "Cheesy tots", as a regular item available on both its breakfast and lunch/dinner menus. Cheesy Tots are coin-shaped and, as implied by the name, contain melted cheese as well as potatoes. Taco John's also has coin shaped tots called “Potato Olés”. The Sonic Drive-In franchise also features "Tater Tots" as a regular menu item, with the option of cheese, chili, or both as toppings. Several restaurants-also in the Pacific Northwest-offer a nacho version of tots ("totchos"), covered in nacho cheese sauce and toppings.

Tater is slang for potato (origin: 1750–60; America; by aphesis, tato, and substitution of -er for final -o, tater); Tots may have been derived from their diminutive size, or because they are often served to children.

History

Tater Tots were first created in 1953 when Ore-Ida® founders F. Nephi Grigg and Golden Grigg were trying to figure out what to do with left over slivers of cut up potatoes. They came up with the novel idea of chopping up the potato slivers, adding flour and seasoning, then pushing the mash through holes and slicing off pieces of what came out on the other side. Tater Tots® were born. They first became available in stores in 1954. Today, Americans consume approximately 70 million pounds of "Tots" per year.

See also

• Ore-Ida
• Croquettes

References

1. Ore-Ida Fun Zone - Fun Facts
2. tater - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
3. tot - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary