potato chip

potato chip, a thin slice of potato fried in oil or baked in an oven until crisp. It may be salted or flavoured after cooking.

The invention of the potato chip is attributed to George Crum, who was born George Speck in 1824, the son of an African American father and a Native American mother who was a member of the Huron people. In 1853 he was a cook at Moon’s Lake House restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York. A customer sent back his order of fried potatoes, stating that the slices were too thick. Supposedly, Crum cut thinner slices of potato, but the customer was still dissatisfied. An annoyed Crum then decided to cut thin sections of potato and fry them in oil until they resembled crispy disks that could not be eaten with a fork. The customer, instead of being irritated, was delighted by the crunchy potatoes. Other restaurant patrons then requested the dish, leading the establishment to offer its special Saratoga chips. Crum later opened his own restaurant and featured the chips, which gradually became popular in New England restaurants.

In the late 1800s entrepreneurs, such as William Tappenden, began founding companies to make potato chips available in grocery stores. Originally, the chips sold in stores were kept in big barrels or glass containers and were weighed and measured from there. By the time customers got to the bottom of the barrel, the chips were usually stale and broken. In 1926 California businesswoman Laura Scudder, who was also a trained nurse and lawyer, developed a method to fuse two pieces of waxed paper together into a bag to store the chips. This eventually led to the production of cellophane bags and then glassine bags to keep the chips fresh. Also in the 1920s both the mechanical potato peeler and the continuous fryer were invented, allowing for the processing of larger quantities of chips.

In the late 1930s Herman Lay’s company became the first to successfully market its branded chips throughout the United States. Today numerous companies produce potato chips, from small regional operations to national and international manufacturers. Potato chips, which can be fried or baked, come in a variety of forms and can be found salted, unsalted, or seasoned with such flavours as barbecue, sour cream and onion, cheddar cheese, vinegar, and spicy. Potato snacks made of uniform size and quality, such as Pringles, are created from dried potato flakes that are formed into dough and reshaped.