Mashed Potato Spice Blend

Mashed Potato Spice by Altes Gewürzamt, smoky

Mashed Potato Spice by Altes Gewürzamt is the seasoning for purees and mashes, developed for Hamburg chef Tim Mälzer. Fried onions, two types of salt, caraway, and blue fenugreek turn mashed potatoes into a side dish with its own distinct character.

Mashed Potato Spice is the spice blend from Altes Gewürzamt for all things potato, mixed in Klingenberg am Main. It features eleven ingredients, led by fried onions, followed by mountain rock salt, coriander seeds, caraway, and mace, plus a sea salt smoked over alder wood.

Fried onions, smoked salt, and blue fenugreek

Fried onions are the primary ingredient, providing a warm, almost hearty depth to the puree.

Two of the ingredients are salts, and each tells a different story. Mountain rock salt is rock salt from deep within the mountain, while Salish Alderwood is a sea salt from the Pacific Northwest, smoked over alder wood. Alder has always been the wood used for salmon there, and it is precisely this mild, sweet, smoky note that anchors the mash.

Blue fenugreek is the second specialty: an herb from the same genus as fenugreek that has a hay-like, sweet aroma and has long been baked into bread in South Tyrol and Switzerland. Mace, meanwhile, is the vibrant seed casing of the nutmeg, with a more delicate and lighter tone than the nut itself.

Garlic, allspice, and black pepper are lower on the list, working in the background, while the coriander seeds in the third position provide a bright trace of citrus. From there, caraway and cumin take over the earthy side that belongs with potatoes just as much as butter does.

In creamy puree, mash, and gratin

Puree, mash, and potato gratin take on the seasoning from Altes Gewürzamt particularly well, and it holds its own with fried potatoes, too.

Floury potatoes and using a potato press instead of a mixer are the foundation, because the longer a mechanical mixer works, the more starch cells burst, resulting in a gluey texture. Calculate about one hundred milliliters of warm milk per half a kilo of potatoes; never use cold milk, so the mash remains light.

Stir in the seasoning only at the end so the smoked salt retains its notes. Because the blend includes two salts, salt your cooking water more sparingly than usual and taste only at the very end.

Alongside a roast with dark gravy, the mash shows exactly what it was intended for, and a spoonful of it served under a fish fillet is equally effective.

Potato dumplings also take to the seasoning well, and it finds its place in a potato salad made with broth instead of mayonnaise.

A recipe for a specific bowl

Not every recipe from the house was created for its own retail shelves. This one was developed for Tim Mälzer’s kitchen and only later found its way into the jar; down-to-earth in its aim and refined in its ingredients. You can tell it was meant for a specific bowl, rather than being a "little bit of everything" blend.

At Altes Gewürzamt, the smoke comes from the salt itself, which is why it tastes like wood rather than liquid smoke flavoring. Alder wood burns mildly and sweetly; beech would be harsher and tarrier, which would be too much for a potato.

Because the fried onions contain oil, the blend is sensitive to moisture. A dry spoon and a tightly sealed jar will keep it free-flowing, and the smoke won't dissipate even after months.

You can find more options for seasoning in our salts and spice salts collection, and the rest of the recipes under Altes Gewürzamt.