Alternative names | Crisps (British and Irish English) |
---|---|
Course | Snack, side dish |
Place of origin | United Kingdom, United States |
Serving temperature | Room temperature |
A potato chip (NAmE and AuE; often just chip) or crisp (BrE and IrE) is a thin slice of potato (or a thin deposit of potato paste) that has been deep fried, baked, or air fried until crunchy. They are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or appetizer. The basic chips are cooked and salted; additional varieties are manufactured using various flavorings and ingredients including herbs, spices, cheeses, other natural flavors, artificial flavors, and additives.
Potato chips form a large part of the snack food and convenience food market in Western countries. The global potato chip market generated total revenue of US$16.49 billion in 2005. This accounted for 35.5% of the total savory snacks market in that year (which was $46.1 billion overall). [1]
The earliest known recipe for something similar to today's potato chips is in the English cook William Kitchiner's book The Cook's Oracle published in 1817, which was a bestseller in the United Kingdom and the United States. [2] The 1822 edition's recipe for "Potatoes fried in Slices or Shavings" reads "peel large potatoes... cut them in shavings round and round, as you would peel a lemon; dry them well in a clean cloth, and fry them in lard or dripping". [3] [4] An 1825 British book about French cookery calls them "Pommes de Terre frites" (second recipe) and calls for thin slices of potato fried in "clarified butter or goose dripping", drained and sprinkled with salt. [5] Early recipes for potato chips in the US are found in Mary Randolph's Virginia House-Wife (1824) [6] and in N.K.M. Lee's Cook's Own Book (1832), [7] both of which explicitly cite Kitchiner. [8]
A legend associates the creation of potato chips with Saratoga Springs, New York, decades later than the first recorded recipe. [9] By the late nineteenth century, a popular version of the story attributed the dish to George Crum, a cook [10] [11] at Moon's Lake House who was trying to appease an unhappy customer on August 24, 1853. [12] The customer kept sending back his French-fried potatoes, complaining that they were too thick, [13] too "soggy", or not salted enough. Frustrated, Crum sliced several potatoes extremely thin, fried them to a crisp, and seasoned them with extra salt. To his surprise, the customer loved them. They soon came to be called "Saratoga Chips", [14] a name that persisted into the mid-twentieth century. A version of this story was popularized in a 1973 national advertising campaign by St. Regis Paper Company which manufactured packaging for chips, claiming that Crum's customer was Cornelius Vanderbilt. [10] Crum was already renowned as a chef at the time, and he owned a lakeside restaurant by 1860 which he called Crum's House. [10] The "Saratoga Chips" brand name still exists today.
In the 20th century, potato chips spread beyond chef-cooked restaurant fare and began to be mass-produced for home consumption. The Dayton, Ohio-based Mikesell's Potato Chip Company, founded in 1910, identifies as the "oldest potato chip company in the United States". [15] [16] [17] New Hampshire-based Granite State Potato Chip Factory, founded in 1905 and in operation until 2007, was one of America's first potato chip manufacturers. [18] [19] [20]
In an idea originated by the Smiths Potato Crisps Company Ltd, formed in 1920, Frank Smith packaged his chips in greaseproof paper bags and attached a twist of salt, and sold them around London. [21] The potato chip remained otherwise unseasoned until the 1950s. After some trial and error, in 1954, Joe "Spud" Murphy, the owner of the Irish crisps company Tayto, and his employee Seamus Burke, produced the world's first seasoned chips: cheese & onion. [2] [22] Companies worldwide sought to buy the rights to Tayto's technique. [23] Walkers of Leicester, England produced cheese & onion the same year. [24] Golden Wonder (Smith's main competitor at the time) also started to produce cheese & onion, and Smith's countered with salt & vinegar (tested first by their north-east England subsidiary Tudor and then launched nationally in 1967), starting a two-decade-long flavor war. [25] [26]
The first flavored chips in the United States, barbecue flavor, were being manufactured and sold by 1954. [27] [28] [29] In 1958, Herr's was the first company to introduce barbecue-flavored potato chips in Pennsylvania. [30]
Chips sold in markets were usually sold in tins or scooped out of storefront glass bins and delivered by horse and wagon. Early potato chip bags were wax paper with the ends ironed or stapled together. At first, potato chips were packaged in barrels or tins, which left chips at the bottom stale and crumbled.
In the 1920s, Laura Scudder, [31] [32] [33] an entrepreneur in Monterey Park, California, started having her workers take home sheets of wax paper to iron into the form of bags, which were filled with chips at her factory the next day. This pioneering method reduced crumbling and kept the chips fresh and crisp longer. This innovation, along with the invention of cellophane, allowed potato chips to become a mass-market product. Today, chips are packaged in plastic bags, with nitrogen gas blown in prior to sealing to lengthen shelf life, and provide protection against crushing. [34] [35] [36] [37]
Chips were long made in a batch process, where the potato slices are rinsed with cold water to release starch, [38] fried at a low temperature of 300 °F (150 °C), [39] and continuously raked to prevent them from sticking together.
Industrial advances resulted in a shift to production by a continuous process, running the chips through a vat of hot oil and drying them in a conveyor process.
Some small producers continued to use a batch process, notably in Maui. [40] In 1980, inspired by the Maui Chip, an entrepreneur started Cape Cod Potato Chips to produce thicker, batch-cooked "Hawaiian style" potato chips, which came to be known as kettle-style (US) or hand-cooked (UK) chips and became a premium, "gourmet" item. [41] Kettle chips are thicker and the surface starch is not rinsed off, resulting in a style of chip called "hard-bite". [42]
This section possibly contains original research .(April 2021) |
Little consistency exists in the English-speaking world for the name of this food. North American English uses "chips", though Canadians may also call French fries, especially thick ones, "chips" as well. [43] "Crisps" may be used for thin fried or baked products made from potato paste. [44] An example of this type of snack is Pringles, which are marketed as "potato crisps" even in the United States. [44]
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, "crisps" are potato chips which are eaten at room temperature, whilst "chips" are similar to french fries (as in "fish and chips") and are served hot. [45] In Australia, some parts of South Africa, New Zealand, India, and the West Indies, especially in Barbados, both forms of potato product are simply known as "chips", as are the larger "home-style" variety. In the north of New Zealand, they are sometimes affectionately known as "chippies"; however, they are marketed as "chips" throughout the country.[ citation needed ] In Australia and New Zealand, a distinction is sometimes made between "hot chips" (fried potatoes) and "chips" or "potato chips". In Bangladesh, they are generally known as "chip" or "chips", and much less frequently as "crisps" (pronounced "kirisp") and locally, alu bhaja.
In German-speaking countries (Austria, Germany: "Kartoffelchips", often shortened to "Chips"; Switzerland: "Pommes Chips") and in countries of the former Yugoslavia, fried thin potato slices are known as "chips" (locally pronounced very similarly to the English pronunciation), with a clear distinction from French fries. In Brazil, "home-style" potato chips are known as batatas portuguesas ("Portuguese potatoes") if their sides are relatively smooth and batatas prussianas ("Prussian potatoes") if their sides show a wafer biscuit-like pattern, whilst American-like industrial uniform potato chips made from a fried potato purée-based dough are known as "batata chips" ("potato chips"), or just "chips".[ citation needed ]
Most potato chips contain high levels of sodium, from salt. This has been linked to health issues such as high blood pressure. [46] However, researchers at Queen Mary University of London in 2004 have noted that a small "bag of ready-salted crisps" contains less salt than a serving of many breakfast cereals, including "every brand of cornflakes on sale in the UK". [47]
Some potato chip companies have responded to the long-standing concerns by investing in research and development to modify existing recipes and create health-conscious products. PepsiCo research shows that about 80% of salt on chips is not sensed by the tongue before being swallowed. Frito-Lay spent $414 million in 2009 on product development, including development of salt crystals that would reduce the salt content of Lay's potato chips without adversely affecting flavor. [48]
Unsalted chips are available, e.g. the longstanding British brand Salt 'n' Shake, whose chips are not seasoned, but instead include a small salt sachet in the bag for seasoning to taste. Many other popular brands in the United States, such as Frito-Lay, also offer such a product.
One health scare related to potato chips focused on acrylamide, which is produced when potatoes are fried or baked at high temperatures. This discovery in 2002 led to international health concerns. Subsequent research has however found that it is not likely that the acrylamides in burnt or well-cooked food cause cancer in humans; Cancer Research UK categorizes the idea that burnt food causes cancer as a "myth". [49]
In August 2008, California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced a settlement with Frito-Lay, Kettle Foods, and Lance Inc., the makers of Cape Cod Potato Chips, for violating the state's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act. The state had alleged in 2005 that potato chips from these companies failed to document that they contained high levels of acrylamide, which is listed by California since the 1990s as a carcinogen. These companies paid fines and agreed to reduce acrylamide levels to be under 275 parts per billion. [50] [51] Many potato chip manufacturers attempt to remove burned and thus potentially acrylamide-rich chips before the packaging process. Large scanners are used to eliminate chips worst affected by heat. [52]
In the United States, major regional brands include Jays, Better Made, Old Dutch, Utz and Zapp's.
In Canada, regional varieties include all-dressed, dill pickle, and ketchup. [53] Ketchup chips are flavored with tomato, garlic and onions. [54]
In Colombia, lemon, chicken, chorizo, and sirloin steak with mushroom sauce flavored potato chips are sold. [55]
In the United Kingdom, Walkers makes crisps with popular flavours as Prawn Cocktail, Beef and Onion, Roast Chicken, Smoky Bacon, Worcester Sauce, Pickled Onion, and Tomato Ketchup, [56] [57] and exotic flavors Thai sweet chili, roast pork and creamy mustard sauce, chicken with Italian herbs, Spicy Sriracha, BBQ Pulled Pork, sea salt and cider vinegar, spicy and aromatic curry, turkey and bacon, caramelized onion and sweet balsamic vinegar, Stilton and cranberry. [57] In Ireland, the word "Tayto" is synonymous with potato chips after the Tayto brand, and can be used to describe all varieties of chips, including those not produced by Tayto. [58] Hunky Dorys and King are other popular Irish brands.
In Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, salted and sweet paprika chips (sometimes also called ungarisch (from "Hungarian") in Germany) are the two most common and popular types. In Germany, chip producers have introduced additional flavours, such as sour cream and onion, cheese, oriental, or more exotic seasonings like "Chakalaka", "Currywurst", "Pommes" (french fries), and "Rot-weiss" (red and white: french fries with tomato ketchup and mayonnaise). In Belgium and the Netherlands, "Bolognese" flavoured potato chips are also popular; this flavour was introduced by Belgian chip company Croky.
In Russia, the Russkaya Kartoshka brand of chips claim reduced content of oil in their curled (C-shaped, nearly ball-shaped) chips, and offers flavors [59] like grilled salmon, shrimp and "Kamchatka's crab", that are unique seafood-themed flavors of potato chips mass-produced in Russia. Lay's offers crab-flavored and no-cream green onion flavored chips as ones made uniquely for Russian market. Lay's "Iz pechi" (literally "from the stove") line of less-oiled chips also include crab flavor. "Just Brutal" brand has pitch-black chips, [60] where the flavors are "vinegar" and "Thai sweet pepper".
In Japan, flavors include norishio (nori and salt), consommé , wasabi, soy sauce and butter, garlic, plum, barbecue, pizza, mayonnaise, and black pepper. Chili, scallop with butter, teriyaki, takoyaki, and yakitori chip flavors are also available. Major manufacturers include Calbee [61] and Koikeya. [62] In Hong Kong, the two prominent potato chips are the spicy "Ethnican" variety by Calbee, [63] and barbecue by Jack 'n Jill.
In Indonesia, potato chips are commonly called kripik kentang and traditionally fell under the kripik category. The major brands are Indofood's Chitato (since 1990s) [64] and Lay's (Frito-Lay). In 2014, Japan's Calbee and Indonesia's Wings Food formed Calbeewings, a joint venture and marketed Potabee potato chips offering two flavors: beef BBQ and grilled seaweed. [65] Lay's potato chips sold in Indonesia are available in six flavors: honey butter, sour cream and onion, nori seaweed, beef barbecue, classic salty, and salmon teriyaki flavors. [66] In 2018 Chitato launched three unusual flavors: beef rendang, fried crab golden egg yolk, and mango sticky rice. [67]
This section possibly contains original research .(April 2021) |
Another food made from potatoes, notably the Pringles and Lay's Stax brands, is made by extruding or pressing a dough made from dehydrated potato flour into the desired shape before frying. This makes a product that is uniform in size and shape, which allows them to be stacked and packaged in rigid cardboard or plastic canisters. Pringles are officially branded as "potato crisps" in the US. Pringles may be termed "potato chips" in Britain, to distinguish them from traditional "crisps", but do not meet the definition or standard of identity for potato chips. Munchos, another brand that uses the term "potato crisps", has deep air pockets in its chips that give it a curved shape, though the chips themselves resemble regular bagged chips.
An additional product similar to potato chips exists in the form of "potato sticks", also called "shoestring potatoes". These are made as extremely thin (2 to 3 mm) versions of the popular French fry but are fried in the manner of regular salted potato chips. A hickory-smoke-flavored version is popular in Canada, going by the vending machine name "Hickory Sticks". Potato sticks are typically packaged in rigid containers, although some manufacturers use flexible pouches, similar to potato chip bags. Potato sticks were originally packed in hermetically sealed steel cans. In the 1960s, manufacturers switched to the less expensive composite canister (similar to the Pringles container). Reckitt Benckiser was a market leader in this category[ citation needed ] under the Durkee Potato Stix and French's Potato Sticks names but exited the business in 2008. In 2014, French's reentered the market. A larger variant (about 1 cm thick) made with dehydrated potatoes is marketed as Andy Capp's Pub Fries, using the theme of a long-running British comic strip, which are baked and sold in a variety of flavors. Walkers make a similar product (using the Smiths brand) called "Chipsticks" which are sold in ready-salted and salt and vinegar flavors.
Some companies have also marketed baked potato chips as an alternative with lower fat content. Additionally, some varieties of fat-free chips have been made using artificial, and indigestible, fat substitutes. These became well known in the media when an ingredient many contained, Olestra, was linked in some individuals to abdominal discomfort and loose stools. [68]
Many other products might be called "crisps" in Britain, but would not be classed as "potato chips" because they are not made with potato or are not chipped (for example, Wotsits, Quavers, Skips, Hula Hoops, and Monster Munch). British restaurant critic Tanya Gold argues that Monster Munch "is absolutely not a crisp". [69]
Sweet potato chips are eaten in Korea, New Zealand, and Japan; parsnip, beetroot, and carrot crisps are available in the United Kingdom. India is famous[ citation needed ] for a large number of localized 'chips shops', selling not only potato chips, but also other varieties such as plantain chips, tapioca chips, yam chips, and even carrot chips. Plantain chips, also known as chifles or tostones, are also sold in the Western Hemisphere from Canada to Chile. In the Philippines, banana chips can be found sold at local stores. In Kenya, chips are made from arrowroot and cassava. In the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, and Australia, a new variety of Pringles made from rice has been released and marketed as lower in fat than its potato counterparts. [70]
French fries are batonnet or julienne-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium or France. They are prepared by cutting potatoes into even strips, drying them, and frying them, usually in a deep fryer. Pre-cut, blanched, and frozen russet potatoes are widely used, and sometimes baked in a regular or convection oven; air fryers are small convection ovens marketed for frying potatoes.
Pringles is an American brand of stackable potato-based chips invented by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1968 and marketed as "Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips". It is technically considered an extruded snack because of the manufacturing process. The brand was sold in 2012 to Kellanova, but in 2024 Kellanova, Kellogg's parent company agreed to be purchased by Mars Inc.
Quavers are a deep-fried potato-based British snack food. Launched in the UK in 1968, they were originally made by Smith's in their factory on Newark Road in the Bracebridge area of Lincoln. Since 1997 they have been produced by Walkers. The name comes from the musical note, quaver.
Tayto Snacks is a crisp and popcorn manufacturer in Ireland, founded by Joe Murphy in May 1954 and owned by German snack food company Intersnack. It owns several brands, including its leading product of Tayto Crisps for which it invented the first flavoured crisp production process. The first seasoned crisps produced were Cheese & Onion. Companies worldwide sought to buy the rights to Tayto's technique. Tayto crisps are a cultural phenomenon throughout Ireland, so much so that in November 2010, Tayto opened their own theme park called "Tayto Park" near Ashbourne.
Ruffles is an American brand of crinkle-cut potato chips. The Frito Company acquired the rights to Ruffles brand potato chips in 1958 from its creator, Bernhardt Stahmer, who had adopted the trademark on May 11th, 1948. Frito merged with H.W. Lay & Co. in 1961 to form Frito-Lay. In India, when this product was introduced in 1995, it was branded “Ruffles Lays”, though it would be renamed to Ruffles in the late 90s.
Lay's is a brand of potato chips with different flavors, as well as the name of the company that founded the chip brand in the United States. The brand is also referred to as Frito-Lay, as both Lay's and Fritos are brands sold by the Frito-Lay company, which has been a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo since 1965. Frito-Lay primarily uses the brand name "Lay's" in the United States and Canada, and uses other brand names in some other countries, such as Walkers in the UK and Ireland, and Smith's in Australia.
The Smith's Snackfood Company is a British-Australian snack food brand owned by the American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation PepsiCo. It is best known for its brand of potato crisps. The company was founded by Frank Smith and Jim Viney in the United Kingdom in 1920 as Smith's Potato Crisps Ltd, originally packaging a twist of salt with its crisps in greaseproof paper bags which were sold around London. The dominant brand in the UK until the 1960s when Golden Wonder took over with Cheese & Onion, Smith's countered by creating Salt & Vinegar flavour which was launched nationally in 1967.
Humpty Dumpty Snack Foods is an American food company, operating as a subsidiary of Old Dutch Foods, that packages and sells snack foods. The company is named after the nursery rhyme character and features the character as the company logo. Humpty Dumpty products are generally sold in New England, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
Munchos are a potato chip snack food manufactured from dehydrated potatoes by Frito-Lay.
Kettle Foods, Inc. is an American manufacturer of potato chips, based in Salem, Oregon, United States, with a European and Middle East headquarters in Norwich, United Kingdom. As of 2006 they were the largest natural potato chip brand in the U.S.
Miss Vickie's is a Canadian brand of potato chips made by Frito-Lay in the United States and Canada. The chips are kettle cooked and come in a variety of flavours. They are sold in Canada, Europe, and the United States. Originating on a farm from a recipe her mother had given to her, company co-founder Vickie "Miss Vickie" Kerr slightly altered her inherited recipe by adding peanut oil to the potato chips, but they are no longer cooked in peanut oil today.
Herr's is an American brand of potato chips and other snack foods produced and marketed by eponymous private American company Herr Foods Inc. based in Nottingham, Pennsylvania. Their products are sold primarily throughout the Eastern United States and Canada and they have a stronghold in the Mid-Atlantic region. Their products are sold in all 50 American states and in over 40 countries.
Walkers Snack Foods Limited, trading as Walkers, is a British snack food manufacturer mainly operating in the UK and Ireland. The company is best known for manufacturing potato crisps and other snack foods. In 2013, it held 56% of the British crisp market. Walkers was founded in 1948 in Leicester, England, by Henry Walker. The Walkers family sold the business in 1970 to American food producer, Standard Brands. In 1989, Walkers was acquired by PepsiCo, owners of US snack brand Frito-Lay.
Fried potatoes are a dish or a component of other dishes essentially consisting of potatoes which have been fried or deep-fried in hot cooking oil often with the addition of salt and other seasonings. They are often served as a side dish.
Frito-Lay, Inc. is an American subsidiary of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets, and sells corn chips, potato chips, and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-flavored snacks, Doritos and Tostitos tortilla chips, Lay's and Ruffles potato chips, Rold Gold pretzels, and Walkers potato crisps. Each brand generated annual worldwide sales over $1 billion in 2009.
Real Crisps is a crisp brand. The company was founded in 1997, and expanded over the following decade to become a business turning over £15 million a year. In 2007, it was purchased by the Northern Ireland-based crisp manufacturer Tayto. In 2012, a fire caused the destruction of the 65,000 square feet (6,000 m2) Real Crisp factory in Crumlin, Caerphilly. There are a range of flavours produced, and the company ran a limited edition political themed range prior to the 2010 United Kingdom general election.
Vegetable chips are chips (crisps) that are prepared using vegetables other than potatoes. Vegetable chips may be fried, deep-fried, dehydrated, dried, or baked. Many different root vegetables or leaf vegetables may be used. Vegetable chips may be eaten as a snack food and may accompany other foods such as dips, or be used as a topping on dishes. In the United States, vegetable chips are often mass-produced, with many brands marketed to consumers.
Potatoes fried in Slices or Shavings
To Fry Sliced Potatos [sic]
Potatoes Fried In Slices Or Ribbons
This is when Smith's hit back with their own revolutionary flavour — salt and vinegar, inspired by the country's love for fish & chips.
Under today's settlements, Frito-Lay, Inc., which sells most of the potato chips sold in California, Kettle Foods, Inc., maker of "Kettle Chips", and Lance, Inc., maker of Cape Cod Chips will reduce acrylamide over a period of three years to 275 parts per billion. For Frito Lay, this is about a 20% reduction, while for Kettle Chips, which contain far more acrylamide, this is an 87% reduction in acrylamide.