FEELING “CHIPPER”?
If not now, you will be after enjoying this month’s Picnic Time Selection from your favorite Chocolate of the Month Club!
If I am not mistaken, this will be the first time ever that we’ve had the pleasure of distributing any chocolate morsel to you that includes the well-loved potato chip. Today, potato chips are the number one snack food in America — devoured at a rate of 1.2 billion pounds each year. Were you aware that this snack was created completely by accident?
Around 1855, an African-American/Native-American chef named George Crum was employed at the elegant Moon Lake Lodge in Saratoga Springs, New York. He took offense when a customer complained about being served thick, soggy fried potatoes. In an effort to teach the patron a lesson, he purposely sliced a new batch of potatoes as thin as he possibly could, and fried them until they were both hard and crunchy. To top them off, he poured on the salt. A new snack was born when the customer raved about them!
He opened his own restaurant, Crum’s House, in 1860 and served every table a basket of potato chips, a huge hit with his upscale clientele. Unfairly, at that period in America, it was illegal for people of color to be awarded patents. Thus, he never patented his invention, and the snack was eventually mass-produced, sold in bags. Few people know who we should thank for our favorite snack food. Hats off to George!
Nor do we recognize the name Laura Scudder. Until 1926, chips were stored in cracker barrels or glass cases, served to customers in paper bags, which meant they quickly went stale. Laura, whose parents owned a chip business in California, formed bags out of wax paper sheets, sealing in the chips with a warm iron. The bags kept the chips fresh, and even helped keep them from being crushed so easily. Thanks, Laura!
Perhaps you do recognize the name Herman Lay, a traveling salesman in the south in the 1920’s. He began by selling chips from the trunk of his car. Then he successfully marketed our first national brand-Lays. In 1961 he merged his company with Frito, and today, Frito-Lay manufactures what dreams are made of! Thank you, Herman.
If you are a fan of flavored chips, tip your hat to honor Joe “Spud” Murphy, who owned the Irish Tayto Chip Company back in the 1950’s. He’s responsible for the technology that manufacturers use today to produce flavored chips such as French onion, salt & vinegar and BBQ.
Learn more about our great tasting, unique chocolates from our Chocolate of the Month Club!
