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Potato chips (North American English and Australian English; often just chips) or crisps (British English and Hiberno-English) are thin slices of potato (or a thin deposit of potato paste) that have been deep frying, baking, or air frying until crunchy. They are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or appetizer. The basic chips are cooked and Edible salt; additional varieties are manufactured using various flavorings and ingredients including herbs, , , other natural flavors, artificial flavors, and Food additive.
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).
A legend associates the creation of potato chips with Saratoga Springs, New York, decades later than the first recorded recipe. By the late nineteenth century, a popular version of the story, today known to be untrue, attributed the dish to George Speck, a cook at Moon's Lake House who was trying to appease an unhappy customer on August 24, 1853. The customer kept sending back his French fries, complaining that they were too thick, 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", 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. The story is today known to be a myth, and historians and academics have identified a number of problems with the story: Vanderbilt was in Europe during the alleged encounter, the Moons didn't purchase the Lake House until 1854, and crispy fried potatoes were not unknown to Saratoga in 1853. However, the story remains frequently cited in popular media.
The first flavored chips in the United States, barbeque sauce, were being manufactured and sold by 1954. In 1958, Herr's was the first company to introduce barbecue-flavored potato chips in Pennsylvania.
In the 1920s, Laura Scudder, 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.
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. 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. Kettle chips are thicker and the surface starch is not rinsed off, resulting in a style of chip called "hard-bite".
In the United Kingdom and Ireland they are called "crisps", whilst "chips" refers to french fries (as in "fish and chips"). 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. 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".
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.
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".
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. 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.
In Canada, regional varieties include all-dressed, dill pickle, and ketchup. Ketchup chips are flavored with tomato, garlic and onions.
In Colombia, lemon, chicken, chorizo, and sirloin steak with mushroom sauce flavored potato chips are sold.
In Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, salted and 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 sauce" 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[1] List of all Russkaya Kartoshka chips flavors 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, where the flavors are "vinegar" and "Thai sweet pepper".
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) 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. 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. In 2018 Chitato launched three unusual flavors: beef rendang, fried crab golden egg yolk, and mango sticky rice.
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 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 baking 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.
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".
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 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 was released in 2010 and marketed as lower in fat than its potato counterparts.
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