The History of Wise Potato Chips: A Pennsylvania Icon

Wise Foods, one of the most iconic chip brands in the United States, has been making delicious potato chips since 1921. The company's humble beginnings date back to when grocer Earl Wise found himself with an abundance of potatoes that weren't selling at his store. He took them home, fried them in his kitchen, and then returned to the store with a fresh batch, which sold extremely well. This success led Wise to start a side business, and almost a century later, you can still buy those same crispy chips at markets across the country.

Today, Wise Foods offers a variety of flavors, including one of its biggest crowd-pleasers: honey barbecue. So, what makes Wise's Honey Barbecue potato chips so unique? It's this combination of savory and sweet flavors that sets them apart from other potato chip brands. The company's commitment to quality and taste has earned it a loyal following, and its products are now enjoyed by millions of people across the country.

Potatoes: The Backbone of Wise Potato Chips

Before we dive into the specifics of how Wise Foods makes its famous chips, let's talk about the star ingredient: potatoes. Millions of pounds of potatoes are used every week to make Wise potato chips. The company uses any type of potato that meets stringent standards to ensure quality and consistency. In fact, each potato must meet certain requirements before it can be transformed into a Wise potato chip.

Once the potatoes pass inspection, they're unloaded from trucks into huge bins. These bins hold 12 to 15 trailers of potatoes, with each trailer containing 50,000 pounds of potatoes. That's up to 750,000 pounds of potatoes every day! The next step is to remove the skin from the potatoes. This task would take forever if done manually, but Wise Foods has a clever solution.

The potatoes move through a machine equipped with a series of bristles that literally brush off the peel. Once they're freshly shorn, they head to the slicer, where they're sliced to an incredibly thin 60 thousandths of an inch. The slices then continue on down the flume, where they drop into a water bath to remove some but not all of the starch.

Removing too much starch can result in a really white-looking potato chip that loses flavor quickly. To avoid this, Wise Foods uses a precise amount of starch and controls the drying process carefully. After being sliced and washed, the chips are off to the fryers, where they're cooked at 360 degrees for three to five minutes.

Frying: The Final Touch

Even though the chips have made it through the previous steps, frying is still an important part of the process. Wise Foods has three different fryers that can cook up to 5,000 pounds of potatoes in a single batch. The fryers are heated to perfection, and each chip spends around three to five minutes in the oil before being removed.

But what about imperfections? That's where the optical sensor comes in. This camera-equipped machine identifies and spits out any defective chips that may have formed during the frying process. No flawed chip gets past this eagle-eyed system! There are 128 air jets across the front of the machine, and each one can blow a defect chip out of the product stream.

Seasoning: The Secret to Wise's Success

Now that the chips have passed the test, it's time for seasoning. The company uses a special blend of onion, garlic, paprika, and a little bit of honey to give its chips that unique sweetness. This combination is what sets Wise's Honey Barbecue potato chips apart from other flavors.

The seasoning process involves adding about 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of seasoning every eight hours. This may seem like a lot, but Wise Foods produces around 187 million bags of potato chips each year! The machine that forms the bag comes in the form of a roll stock, almost like a roll of paper towels.

The chip mixture fills the tube structure, and then it's sealed at the top. The puffed up potato chip bags make their way down a conveyor belt where workers pick them up and pack them into boxes. These boxes can be shipped out nationwide and enjoyed by Wise fans everywhere.

In 2001, Wise Foods launched its popular Honey Barbecue potato chip flavor, which quickly became the company's number one seasoned potato chip. Today, Wise remains committed to quality, taste, and innovation, ensuring that its products continue to delight consumers across the country.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enforeign mashed with butter baked and topped with sour cream or grabbed  on the go with a burger nothing quite hits the spot like a potato  and there's no better way to serve up a spud than a chip one of the most iconic chip brands  of Pennsylvania's Wise Foods they've been making the snack since 1921 when grocer Earl wise found  that he had an abundance of potatoes that weren't selling he actually took them home fried them in  his kitchen took him back to the store and they sold really well so he started a side business  almost a century later you can still buy those same crispy chips at markets across the country  and they now come in a variety of flavors including one of wise's biggest crowd Pleasers  honey barbecue what makes wise honey barbecue potato chips so unique is this combination  of savory and sweet but before we get to those special seasonings that make the honey barbecue  chips so distinctive we'll need to start with potatoes millions of them every week wise uses  anywhere from three to four million pounds of potatoes and not just any potatoes will do  each potato must meet stringent standards to be transformed into wise potato chips  and here's the cool part once they pass inspection a hydraulic ramp lifts the whole truck up in the  air and dumps the potatoes into huge bins we unload 12 to 15 trailers of potatoes a day  each of those trailers will hold fifty thousand pounds of potatoes that's up to 750 000 pounds of  potatoes every day first up for them once they're in the factory they've got to lose their skin when  I do this at home I use a regular old people but hand peeling nearly 350 tons of potatoes would  take forever so instead the folks at WISE came up with another one the potatoes move through  a machine equipped with a series of bristles that literally brush off the peel once they're freshly  shorned they need to head to the slicer but they don't travel down a typical conveyor belt  since potatoes are 80 water they float so wise built water flumes to move them through the  factory The Flume transports the potatoes to a circular slicer the blades on the inside of  the rotating cylinder slice the potatoes to an incredibly thin 60 thousandths of an inch the  slices then continue on down the plume where they drop into a water bath to remove some but not all  of the starch when you over wash your potatoes and remove too much starch you get a really white  looking potato chip and it loses flavor after a quick blow dry the chips are off to the fryers  and they're not fooling around wise has three different fryers with the largest able to cook 5  000 pounds of potatoes in an ounce they spend between three and five minutes in  each of the fryers at a temperature of 360 degrees even though the chips have made it  this far it doesn't mean they've earned the title of a wise potato chip quite yet  after being fried each chip gets scanned with an optical sensor to detect imperfections the  op disorder is a really unique part of the chip making process basically has a camera  that identifies and spits out all of the effect potato chips the machine looks from brown or black  spots that might have formed during the frying process no flawed chip gets past this eagle-eyed  skin there is 128 air Jets across the front of that machine and it will turn on a signal to  that jet and it will blow that defect chip out of the product stream chips that pass the test make  their way into bins that travel down the line to the seasoning tumblers the seasoning consists of  onion and garlic and paprika but then also we add a little bit of Honey to give you that sweetness a  great combination we will go through between 1500 and 2 000 pounds of that seasoning every eight  hours into plant that's a lot of seasoning but then wise makes a lot of potato chips  every year wise produces about 187 million bags of potato chips speaking of bags how's that work the  machine will form that bag it comes as a roll stock almost like a roll of paper towels it'll  make a tube structure then the chips will fill into it and it'll make it bottom in a top seal  then the puffed up potato chip bags make their way down a conveyor where workers pick them up  and pack them into boxes that can be shipped out and enjoyed Nationwide wise launched the honey  barbecue potato chip in 2001 and it quickly became our number one seasoned potato chip\n"