Potato Chips

The Saratoga legend

The most famous story says a chef named George Crum, at Moon's Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York, in the 1850s, sliced potatoes paper-thin and fried them to annoy a customer who complained his fries were too thick. The customer loved them. Historians say this story appeared much later and cannot be confirmed.

Older recipes

Recipes for thin fried potato slices appear earlier. An 1817 English cookbook by William Kitchiner described potatoes fried in slices or shavings. What is true is that Saratoga Springs restaurants made the chips famous, and for decades they were sold as Saratoga chips.

From restaurants to bags

Chips were first sold loose from barrels or tins and went stale quickly. In the 1920s, California businesswoman Laura Scudder had workers iron wax paper into bags, keeping chips fresh longer. Machines for continuous frying and later sealed bags with nitrogen helped chips become a mass snack.

How they are made

Potatoes are washed, often peeled, sliced very thin, rinsed to remove surface starch and fried until most of the water evaporates. Kettle chips are cooked in batches for a harder crunch. Seasonings are tumbled on afterward. Sodium and fat vary widely, so check the label.

How it changed everyday life

Chips became America's classic snack in the 20th century, helped by bags that kept them fresh, delivery trucks and lunch boxes. Regional brands flourished, and flavours expanded from plain salt to barbecue, sour cream and onion, salt and vinegar and many more. In the UK, crisps developed their own famous flavours such as prawn cocktail. Chips are also a classic party food, served with dips such as French onion dip, a 1950s favourite. Old-school chip tins and bags are now collectibles in their own right.

Did you know?

In the UK and Ireland, potato chips are called crisps, and chips means thick fries.

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