The Unknown History of Potato Chips

The potato chip, a thin slice of potato fried in oil or baked in an oven until crisp, has a surprisingly intricate history. It is often salted or flavored after cooking. The invention of the potato chip is credited to George Crum, a chef at Moon's Lake House restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York in 1853. Crum sliced the potatoes thinly and fried them until crisp to appease a dissatisfied customer. This accidental invention became known as "Saratoga Chips" and eventually became a popular item in New England. Entrepreneurs like William Tappenden further popularized potato chips by making them available in grocery stores, with technological advancements in packaging by innovators such as Laura Scudder ensuring they stayed fresh longer. This ever-evolving snack now comes in a variety of flavors and forms and has grown into a global industry.

The storied history of the potato chip threads through major world events, from the post-Napoleonic Era cookbooks of William Kitchiner to the economic tumult of the Great Depression that spawned Herman Lay’s eponymous snack empire.

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Across centuries of innovation in flavor, technique, and mass production, the humble fried potato slice has persisted as a global sensation, its crunch and salt beckoning through peace and war alike.

As generations savored crisp potato slices, revolutions reshaped nations, empires rose and fell, and prevailing winds wafted the enduring allure of that most unlikely of staples—the potato chip.

Origins of the Potato Chip

Esteemed gastronome William Kitchiner set the stage for the beloved potato chip in his seminal 1817 work The Cook's Oracle. Therein, the illustrious author proffers a recipe entitled "Potatoes fried in Slices or Shavings," urging readers to "peel large potatoes" and "cut them in shavings round and round, as you would peel a lemon." Thus, the earliest foundations were laid for thin, fried potato slices—humble antecedents to the crunchy, salty potato chips that have crisped and crackled their way into pantries and picnics ever since. Though Kitchiner could scarcely have envisioned the mega snack potato chips would become, his recipe heralded the arrival of a culinary classic.

In 1853, an Angry Restaurant Customer May Have Created the Modern Potato Chip

A tantalizing origin story from Saratoga Springs has etched itself into potato chip lore. As the enduring legend holds, in 1853, a vexed cook by the name of George Crum found himself beset by a customer unsatisfied with plate after plate of fried potatoes at his restaurant. Finally, Crum thinly sliced several potatoes, fried them until crackling and crisp, and dusted these wafer-thin spuds with a liberal sprinkle of salt. To his astonishment, the erstwhile unhappy customer relished these “Saratoga Chips” at last. From such inauspicious beginnings sprung an iconic snack, the potato chip gaining its footing from Crum’s offhand innovative slip of the knife that fateful day in Saratoga Springs. Though likely apocryphal, the tale gives America’s beloved potato chip a fitting creation myth.

Potato Chips Were Originally Cooked in Batches & Hand-Raked

Originally, industrious cooks prepared potato chips in small batches, manually raking the slices to keep the fried potato slivers from adhering together. As production capabilities advanced, the hand-crafted specialty of potato chips graduated to automated assembly lines wherein continuous fryers and conveyor belts enabled mass output of crispy chips. The personal touch of batch cooking and hand-raking relented to modern mechanisms optimized for potato chip manufacturing on a national scale. Though certain specialty chip companies preserve the charming traditions of potato chip preparation's early days, innovations in mass production allowed potato chips to journey from kitchen craft to omnipresent commodity, from rake to conveyor belt.

In the 1920s, Chip Packaging Advancements Like Wax Paper Bags Started Being Used

Potato chips owe their ascension from restaurant oddity to ubiquitous snack to perceptive packaging refinements of the early 20th century. Innovators of the 1920s grasped that wax paper bags, ironed firmly shut, kept chips delectably crisp for enjoyment at home. Cellophane further safeguarded freshness, transforming the brittle potato slice from a fleeting treat to a shelf-stable staple. Such humble materials, when applied with visionary foresight by potato chip purveyors, laid vital groundwork enabling chips to transition from fryer to pantry, spearheading the growth of snacks for home consumption. Had early packaging protections faltered, the entire snack food landscape might appear far different today if potato chips failed to make that fateful journey from eateries to eaters’ hands.

Lay's Potato Chips Were Founded in 1932 by Salesman Herman Lay

The Lay’s potato chip empire traces back to Herman Lay, a Depression-era salesman who in 1932 acquired a modest potato chip factory in Nashville, Tennessee. Lay personally peddled chips to shops and grocers all around, his truck supplying a growing base of customers with this novel snack. In 1961, his enterprise joined forces with the Frito Company, beginning snack juggernaut Frito-Lay (PepsiCo subsidiary). Explore more:
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The humble cart Lay wheeled through Nashville swelled over decades into a global potato chip powerhouse, as classic Lay’s varieties like salted, barbecue, sour cream and onion attained ubiquity across nations and kitchens. From a chance factory purchase emerged one of the world’s snack food giants, its founder’s chips and ambitions growing far beyond one man’s sole truck.

The First Flavored Chips Were Barbecue Flavored in 1954

A renaissance of flavor emerged in the mid-1950s, elevating potato chips beyond mere salted slices into vibrant vehicles for spice and seasoning. The breakthrough arose in 1954 as barbecue potato chips premiered in the United States, tinting potatoes with smoky, tangy mesquite. That same year across the Atlantic, Hunky Dorys of Ireland conjured the world’s first cheese and onion potato chips. This savory innovation from Tayto spawned a worldwide surge in experimentation that unleashed chili and sour cream and other zesty potato chip varieties onto the snack scene as companies everywhere rushed to complement potatoes with intrigue. The humble spud thus ascended into a palette for seasoning creativity, thanks to barbecue and cheese and onion genesis in 1954.

Kettle-Cooked Chips with Thicker Cuts Fried in Small Batches Were Invented in the 1980s

A renewed zeal for artisanal techniques reshaped potato chip terrain in the 1980s with the advent of “kettle-cooked” chips. Seeking to recall the personal panache of batch-fried chips hand raked to order, kettle chip companies like Cape Cod fashioned thicker slices fried in small groups. These premium potato slivers sought to recapture the essence of Maui-style Hawaiian chips which had garnered acclaim for their irregularities and sturdy crunch. With an eye towards crispness and crafty imperfection, Cape Cod and compatriots brought boutique chip production back to the small-scale kettle, proffering lovingly fried batches as a nostalgic throwback amidst big potato’s industrial sprawl.

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.

Three cans of Pringles potato-based 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.

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