Last week, inspired by chef David Tanis’s simple, sculptural wooden potato masher in his Lower East Side kitchen, I went down a bit of a wooden potato masher rabbit hole. Turns out, the one-piece, carved design is an old one, originating in the Victorian era and still used in Scotland (where it’s known as a “beetle”). A wooden masher looks stately on the counter, and would also be rather good for muddling citrus for cocktails, tamping down preserved and pickled foods in jars, and macerating berries. Here are five vintage wooden offerings we like on Etsy (more options here), plus one modern, part-wood option, just in time for holiday cooking.






- Object of Desire: A Citrus Squeezer from Sweden
- The Basics: 12 Essential Tools and Cookware for a Low-Tech Thanksgiving
- The Legendary Egg Spoon of Alice Waters and Fanny Singer
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