SupplySide

Chip Celebration

August 1, 2003 Donna Berry Comments

Posted in Articles, Bakery, Fats/Oils, Flavor, Fried Foods, Snack Foods, Starches, Vegetable, Topics, Bakery / Cereal, Fruits / Vegetables, Gums / Starches

Railroad magnate Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, while on vacation in Saratoga Springs, NY, 150 years ago, sent his fried potatoes back to the kitchen complaining of their thickness. Head Chef George Crum, annoyed by the criticism, decided to have a little fun. He sliced some potatoes paper-thin, fried them to a crisp in oil and topped them with salt. An intended prank became an instant sensation. Initially called Saratoga Chips, these thin, fried potatoes soon became known as potato chips.

“Perhaps nothing is more American than the potato chip,” says Ann Wilkes, vice president of communications for the Snack Food Association, Alexandria, VA. “Potato chips — in their many variations — were all developed here. They are a part of the American culture and are usually a component of picnics and parties. In fact, the biggest chipping occasions of the year are New Year’s Eve, Super Bowl Sunday, Memorial Day weekend and Independence Day.

“Potato chips have become America’s favorite snack, with annual U.S. retail sales in excess of $6 billion,” Wilkes adds. Indeed, potato chips lead the total U.S. retail market for salted snacks, followed by tortilla and corn-based chips, according to the report “The U.S. Market for Salted Snacks” (June 2002), from Packaged Facts, New York. In fact, potato chips command about 30% of the salted-snack-food share; tortilla and corn-based chips combined follow closely with slightly more than 25% share.

The current low-carbohydrate craze may temper growth of the potato-chip category; however, Packaged Facts projects growth will continue at a moderate annual pace of 4.7% during the next three years. New flavors and product introductions will drive this growth, with robust, strong flavors preventing this 150-year-old snack from going stale. Premium products, such as gourmet chips with higher price tags, will capture more of the potato-chip market. Niche markets will also grow — particularly products that appeal to Hispanic consumers, according to the report.

Packaged Facts projects the market for tortilla and corn-based chips to grow about 7.8% annually for the next three years. Since Doritos® debuted in 1964, consumers have been fascinated with highly seasoned corn-based chips, with spicy and bold flavors driving the category’s growth. Innovative shapes, such as those designed to scoop salsa and other dips, will help drive the overall tortilla- and corn-based-chip category, along with consumers’ increasing interest in Hispanic foods and overall growth in the U.S. Hispanic population.

“The facts that chips are convenient and we live in an on-the-go society make all types of chips very attractive to today’s consumers,” adds Wilkes. “Flavored chips continue to grow in popularity because consumers do not even have time to dip their chip anymore. By putting the flavor on the chips, the dipping step is removed from the equation.”

All about frying

In the beginning, not much thought was put into the oil used to fry potato slices. But oil was deemed essential, as it is a heat-transfer medium, cooking raw chips, which today can be so much more than potato slices. Extruded, wet corn masa or sheeted, baked corn tortilla serve as the basis for corn-based and tortilla chips. Products made from vegetables or grains, such as carrot, rice, sweet potato, taro, wheat and yucca have also sprung up in the marketplace.
Frying in oil is basically a dehydration process: Oil drives water out of fried food. Some of the oil becomes part of the finished chip, imparting characteristic taste and mouthfeel.

Potato-chip frying is the most intense of all snack-food frying processes, as potatoes used for chipping are ideally about 75% water (25% total solids), and need to be reduced to about 1.5% water. Other chips have much lower moisture loss during frying. For example, baked tortilla pieces enter the fryer at 14% to 20% moisture. In general, 100 lbs. of potatoes yields about 35 lbs. of potato chips. This includes the weight of the oil absorbed, which is approximately 35% of the finished weight of the chips. “Complete or partial replacement of frying with an alternative drying operation helps control the oil content of finished chips,” says Wilbur Gould, consulting food technologist to the Snack Food Association.

Other variables that affect the oil content of chips include surface area and chip thickness. The final oil content of chips decreases when there is less surface area available for oil absorption in relation to chip volume.

A fat-stripping chamber installed at the discharge end of a continuous-fryer system will remove some of the oil adsorbed onto the surface of the chips, and has been shown to reduce the fat content of chips from 35% to 20%, or lower. Fat-stripping basically involves conveying chips through a chamber where high-velocity fans circulate the atmosphere, while injected steam reduces the oxygen level inside the chamber. This system strips surface oil from the chips. If handled properly, manufacturers can reuse the recovered oil, presenting a cost-savings opportunity.