A close-up of a plate of Tater Tots. 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.[1] Tater Tots are widely recognized for 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 Froggy 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 "jullienes" or "potato puffs". Tater is slang for potato (origin: 175060; 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.[2][3] [edit] History Tater Tots were first created and produced in 1953 by the Ore-Ida company, now a subsidiary of H. J. Heinz Company, as a means of utilizing potato shreds remaining from french fry production.[4] They first became available in stores in 1954. Today Americans consume approximately 70 million pounds of "Tots" per year.[citation needed] 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. [edit] See also Croquettes This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2007) [edit] References ^ Ore-Ida Fun Zone - Fun Facts ^ tater - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary ^ tot - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary ^ Ore-Ida Fun Zone - Fun Facts