Ah, the potato chip—salty goodness or aphrodisiac?
When were these irresistible treats invented?
As the story goes, they date back to the summer of 1853 in the restaurant of Moon’s Lake Lodge in Saratoga Springs, New York. The cook there, a man by the name of George Crum who was half Native and half African American, had a disagreeable customer. Railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt complained the French fries served to him were too thick and soggy, and didn’t have enough salt. Crum cut some thinner, cooked and salted them, and sent those out to the man. Still too thick.
Annoyed, Crum cut several potatoes as thin as he possibly could and fried them until they were brown and crisp, too crunchy to be eaten with a fork. He topped them off with an overload of salt to teach Vanderbilt a lesson. Well, the joke was on Crum. Vanderbilt loved them, and Saratoga Chips soon became a big hit, not only at the restaurant but in the entire area.
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| Crum and his sister Kate |
However, this story, though entertaining, isn’t true. For one, Vanderbilt was touring in Europe that summer. Two, the Moons didn’t purchase the resort until 1854. And finally, Crum’s sister, Kate, claimed to have fried and invented the Saratoga Chips. To top it off, potato chips weren’t unknown in this area. A woman named Eliza, in Saratoga, had a reputation for her fried potatoes, as early as 1849.
So, who owns the claim to fame? George or Kate or Eliza? None of them.
An 1817 cookbook the Cook’s Oracle by William Kitchiner, published in London, had a recipe for potato chips. Which means, the recipe was around before that. They were also in the 1822 edition. A British book about French cookery in 1825 had a similar recipe.
In the US, early recipes are in Mary Randolph’s Virginia House-wife (1824) and in Cook’s Own Book (1832) by N.K.M. Lee. Both of these cite Kitchiner.
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All of these predate Crum from the story at the top of the article. He did, eventually, open his own restaurant in 1860, featuring Saratoga Chips.
For a long time, potato chips were restaurant-only offering because they were laborious to make, peeling and slicing all those potatoes by hand. Also, there was no way to keep them fresh beyond the exit.
Ohio entrepreneur William Tappenden created a way to keep them stocked in grocery stores. He shipped the potato chips by wagon in barrels. Then they would be weighed out at the store and sold that way. The problem came near the bottom of the barrel where the chips had become stale and broken into little pieces. Others copied his method.
The salty snack had a major breakthrough in 1926. California businesswoman Laura Scudder came up with the idea to fuse two pieces of wax paper together, which kept the potato chips from crumbling as well as fresh and crisp. Her packaging had a freshness date and boasted “the Noisiest Chips in the World.”
The following year, Chicago chef Leonard Japp started mass-producing the snack for Al Capone who thought they would sell well in his speak-easies. Japp also started cooking his chips in oil rather than lard.
The inventions of the mechanical potato peeler and the continuous fryer in the 1920s made processing large quantities of potato chips possible.
Also, in the 1920s, Herman Lay started selling potato chips and became so successful that he could mass-produce them.
And in the 1950s, we started having flavored chips.
In 1963, Lay’s marketing firm came up with the popular trademark slogan “Betcha can’t eat just one.” Bert Lahr, Wizard of Oz’s cowardly lion, featured in a series of commercials, which helped make them even more popular.
As a side note, I found this interesting. In colonial times, New Englanders relegated potatoes to pig food. They believed eating these tubers would shorten a person’s life—not because of the things we do to them today—but because they were believed to have an aphrodisiac, which could induce conduct that would shorten one’s life. Hmm, what conduct might that be?
I, for one, am glad this isn’t true. Even if it was, I would live dangerously, because I love potatoes, anyway you want to cook them.
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| Author Photo |
THE DAUGHTER'S PREDICAMENT (Book 2 in the Quilting Circle series )
Can a patient love win her heart?
As Isabelle Atwood’s
romance prospects are turning in her favor, a family scandal derails her
dreams. While making a quilt for her own hope chest, Isabelle’s
half-sister becomes pregnant out of wedlock and Isabelle--always the
unfavored daughter--becomes the family sacrifice to save face. Despite
gaining the attention of a handsome rancher, her parents are pressuring
her to marry a man of their choosing to rescue her sister’s reputation. A
third suitor waits silently in the wings, hoping for his own chance at
love. Isabelle ends up with three marriage proposals, but this only
further confuses her decision.
A handsome rancher, a stranger, and
an unseen suitor are all waiting for an answer. Isabelle loves her
sister, but will she really allow herself to be manipulated into a
marriage without love? Will Isabelle capitulate and marry the man her
parents wish her to, or will she rebel and marry the man they don’t
approve of? Or will the man leaving her secret love poems sweep her off
her feet?
Mary lives in the Rocky Mountains with her Carolina dog, Shelby. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at: Books2Read Newsletter Blog FB FB Readers Group Amazon GoodReads BookBub
Sources
Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things by Charles Panati, p. 388
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_chips
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/curious-history-potato-chip-180979232/
https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-potato-chips-1991777
https://daily.jstor.org/story-invention-potato-chip-myth/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/potato-chip
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