What makes Potato Chips so delicious?

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Let’s play a game about snacks. See if you can identify the following four snacks based just on the sound they make when I bite into it. Ready? Here’s number one. Did you get that one? Hold on to your answer.

Here’s number two. Any ideas? Okay, number three. And finally, number four. I’m guessing you’re not too sure about the first three, but you definitely guessed the fourth one. Did you say that the last one was a potato chip?

We know you probably did. Few things crunch as loudly and proudly as potato chips. Now, maybe some of you guessed the first three were a brownie, a candy bar, and ice cream. And if so, congratulations, you have an amazing year for snack time.

But I’m guessing you only got this one. The potato chip, or… As they say in some countries, potato crisp is one of the most popular snacks in the world. A true delight for your taste buds as well as your ears.

A study found people actually change the way they eat in order to make their chip crunches louder. And many people also say they love the crinkly noise that a chip bag makes. What about you, smarty pants?

Do you like loudly crunching potato chips and crinkling the bag? Believe it or not, researchers found that if you take away the sounds, people grew tired of eating chips faster. Try it yourself with a bag of chips and some noise -canceling headphones or cotton in your ears.

But whether you like them crunchy or quiet, where did the first potato chips come from? What makes them so addictive? And where can you find the strangest flavors like grilled squid, lobster and seaweed?

It’s time for another whiff of science and history on… Who’s smarted? Who’s smarted? Who’s smart? Is it you? Is it me? Is it science or history? Listen up! Everyone, we make smarting lots of fun on who’s smarted.

Potato chips are easily one of the world’s most popular snacks, and they can be found practically anywhere. Especially in France, England and the USA. The three countries that eat the most chips. But guess what?

It was less than 200… 100 years ago, when you could hardly find any, not even one bag. Back then, potato chips were a novelty snack at a popular restaurant called Moon’s Lake House. In other words, if you wanted potato chips, you had to go there to get them.

Any guess where this restaurant was? Was it A, in Garden City, Idaho? B, Saratoga Springs, New York? C, Chipstead, England? Or D, Potato Island, Canada? Excuse me, but potato chips aren’t originally from Potato Island or Chipstead.

No, sir, my chips were American made, up in the Adirondack Mountains of Saratoga Springs, New York. In fact, back when I made them, they were called Saratoga chips. I see, and who may ask are you? Why, I’m George Crumb.

I’m one of the most famous African -American chefs of the late 1800s. I’m half Native American, too. I was known throughout the United States for my famous poultry dishes, such as woodcock and partridge.

Ooh! The New York Arab once called me, quote, the best cook in the country, but I’m probably most known as the inventor of potato chips. Ah, yes, of course, George Crumb. You were one of the first celebrity chefs in the United States, the so -called Edison of Greece.

Please, tell us the legend of the potato chip. Here goes. One day in 1853, a very rich and famous businessman named Cornelius Vanderbilt. Cornelius Vanderbilt? The shipping and railroad tycoon who became one of the wealthiest Americans of the 19th century?

Yep, that guy. Anyway, he loved coming to Moon’s Lake House, where I was the chef and ordering up fried potatoes. So what do I do? I make him a nice plate of tasty taters. And you know what he does? Eat them?

Nope, he sends them back. Says they’re too thick. Yikes, what’d you do? Well, as one of the best cooks in the country, I wasn’t gonna take it in so like that. I had to have the last laugh. Too thick, huh?

Fine. If Mr. Vanderbilt wants thin potatoes, I’m gonna give him some really thin potatoes. I sliced those potatoes so thin, you could practically see through them. Then I fried them to a crisp. Let’s just say I thought Mr.

Vanderbilt would get a laugh out of my little prank. But instead, he ended up loving them. And that’s the legend of how the first potato chip was made. There’s just one problem with that story. What’s that?

It ain’t true. Vanderbilt wasn’t even in the country at the time. Is that true? Yes. So the story’s fake? True. Hey, I never claimed to invent the potato chip. People just came up with that story. So who invented the potato chip?

Me. You tell him, sister. And you are? Kate Wicks, George Crumb’s sister. I worked in the kitchen with my brother and I fried a thinly sliced potato and discovered the chip. Hey, not so fast. I’m Carrie Moon, owner of Moon’s Lake House Restaurant.

Technically, you both worked for me. So I deserve credit, too. You tried getting that credit before, Moon. And that didn’t work. Well, my name’s Eliza, and I was a chef at Moon’s restaurant before George and Kate, and I made crispy potatoes.

It says so in the New York Herald. Right, but crispy potatoes aren’t the same as potato chips. Sorry. My dear chaps, your forgetting was I who invented the Potato Crisp. I printed the recipe before any of you even worked at that restaurant.

Wait, who are you? My name is William Kitchener. I’m a doctor from England and the inventor of the Potato Crisp. Hold on now. Your recipe calls for slices a quarter inch thick. That ain’t thin enough to be chips.

Crisps, my dear lady, chips are what you Americans call French fries. Nah, we call ours potato chips and they were made here first in Saratoga Springs. By me? At my restaurant? I still say I was first.

And I say you’re all terribly mistaken. No, you are crispy. Okay, okay, that’s enough. Everyone, quiet. The truth is nobody knows exactly who created the first potato chip. But historians do agree that chef George Crumb made the snack very popular.

So how did you do it? When I opened up my own restaurant, I made sure each table had a basket of chips waiting for hungry patrons. People from far and wide came to New York to have them. That is until I moseyed along.

I made chips a treat for people all over the U .S. and the world. And your name is? Herman’s my first name and see if you smarty pants can guess my last name. In the 1920s, I started selling potato chips out the back of my cart of grocers.

About a decade later, my company was mass producing these chips, cooking millions of potato slices in huge vats of oil. and shipping them across the U .S .A. We became the first successful national brand of chips.

Today, we’re one of the biggest snack brands in the world, and my last name is right on the bag. Any guesses? Smirnypants is Harmon’s last name A, Dorito, B, Lay, or C, Barbecue. Barbecue is one of more than 200 flavors of chips my company makes, and it’s a heck of a good one.

My company also makes Doritos, but our top -selling potato chips carry my last name. B, Lay. Lay is the brand that introduced the slogan, Bet you can’t eat just one. Why is that? Why are potato chips so addictive?

Well, sir, you already mentioned how your brain goes wild over the crunch. And the crinkle, but there’s also the salty flavor. Scientists have found that salt triggers a feeling of reward and pleasure in your brain and makes you want more.

And there’s plenty of salt on chips, even our flavored ones are salty, and the flavors are mixed in a certain way so you don’t get tired of them. Maybe that’s why salty snacks like chips are more addictive than sugary ones.

Oh, but chips contain sugar too. They do? Yes sir, in the form of starch from the potato. Your body actually absorbs it faster than other sugars, it goes so fast you want more. And there’s no satisfying this craving cause the fat in the chips melts in your mouth.

You know what I mean? Tickling your brain into thinking it just disappeared. So you don’t get full. That means you can eat chips to your heart’s delight, or rather, your brain’s delight. But isn’t that a problem?

All that salt, sugar, and fat isn’t very healthy for kids, or adults, especially if you weigh too many of them. Hey, nobody said you had to finish the whole bag. Oh, and you can thank me for the bags.

Who are you? Laura Scudder, businesswoman and chipmaker of the 1920s. Back then, people ate chips from wooden barrels, baskets, or tins. And guess what? The exposure to air is what causes chips to lose their crunch.

I came up with the idea of sealing chips in bags, even adding a freshness date to make sure people eat them at their crunch. crispiest That crunch sound is a winner and I called mine the noisiest chips in the world Interesting perhaps you can explain why chip bags always seem half full There’s a reason for that good because me and the smarty pants would love to know the answer right after this quick break You Hi trustee here with a special message for all the parents and guardians listening I know how important it is for your child to excel in every way possible Especially when it comes to education.

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Happy summer. Happy Father’s Day and happy eating Now back to who smarted So, why is it that when I buy a bag of potato chips it always seems only half full It’s because the people bagging the chips get hungry.

So they eat a handful before sealing the bag really No, the truth is the empty space around the chips is actually filled with nitrogen gas The gas does two things one it keeps chips fresh and Two it creates a cushion to push prevent chips from breaking.

That’s how you get unbroken, crispy chips when you open a bag. I see. So thanks for clearing the air. Get it? Air? Here’s something else I’ve wondered about. Flavors. Smarty Pants, what are some of your favorite potato chip flavors?

Shout them out. I’m hearing barbecue, sour cream and onion, salt and vinegar, cheddar cheese, so many flavors out there. My favorite Toga chips came in one flavor, plain. That’s because flavored chips didn’t appear until the 1950s.

But today you can get chips in unusual flavors. Did you know that you can find seaweed flavored chips in Indonesia? Or cheesy lobster ones in China? There’s hot, chili -grilled squid -flavored chips in Thailand.

And sausage and mustard chips in the UK. Tally -ho! Delicious! There’s chicken and thyme chips in France and masala chips in India. Wow, people used to travel long distances to get my plane chips. Now I’d have to travel far to get these weird ones.

Actually, you don’t have to. You can buy them online off of Amazon. The river in South America? No, I’ll explain later. For now, let’s split a bag of plane chips and call it a day. Sounds good to me.

And me. And me. And me. Me too. A double shout -out to smarty fans Logan and Connor in Portland, Oregon. You wanted to let us know that Who Smarted is Wonderful, and you learn a lot because it’s history and science and it’s so fun.

Aw, I couldn’t have said it better myself if I tried. Thanks, you two. This episode, Potato Chips, was written by Dave Baudry and voiced by Chris Okawa, Kim Davis, Kieran O ‘Connor, Adam Tex Davis, Brandon Bayless, and Jerry Colbert.

Technical direction and sound design by Josh Hahn. Who Smarted is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios. Our associate producer is Max, Crispy Potatoes, Kamaski. The theme song is by Brian Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex Davis.

Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Colbert. This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.

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