P.O. Box 188, Waupaca, WI 54981
Phone 715 258 7683   Fax 715 258 1514
snacks@delishuspopcorn.com

From Potato Bin to Potato Chip in Minutes

The tater that began life on a quiet potato farm outside Antigo, Wisconsin now begins a wild, intense ride that transforms it into De-lish-us®  golden potato chips. It and its “spuddies” are taken from the temperature controlled bin, physically inspected by a veteran Delicious employee who spots any imperfections and cuts them out (or rejects the potato completely).  Then as a pitchman at the fair might say, “Folks, with this amazing process, they’re lifted, washed, brushed, destoned, peeled, cut, cooked, salted, tumbled, flavored, bagged, sealed and shipped.”

Before the peeled potato gets to the cooker, centrifugal force pushes it against spinning blades to produce a nice thin cut. The thinly cut slice then goes into a starch separator.  When sliced, the cells of a potato open and yield starch. The starch is then washed out of the exposed cells. It takes approximately two minutes from the time a potato is sliced for the potato chips to get through the cooker, then the chips come up the elevator, are salted immediately and travel down into tumblers where they are flavored. By doing the flavoring basically right off the end of the cooker, the chips are still very hot and any particular flavoring, e.g., barbecue, cheese, sour cream, etc., adheres more uniformly to the chip.  Some other manufacturers, for production efficiency, put the flavoring powders on further down the line, when the chips have cooled.  “We can use less flavoring and still obtain a third more taste than many other manufacturers,” said Jim.

 After the visual inspection, the process becomes automated. The potatoes travel on a conveyer belt to a destoner, which does exactly what its name implies - separates any stones from the batch by means of an auger and brushes. With the brushes and abrasive rollers, Delicious is capable of peeling up to 8,000 pounds of potatoes an hour.  In normal circumstances, 4,000 pounds of potatoes will yield 1,000 pounds of chips.  “We could get close to 1,200 pounds an hour if we wanted to, but we wouldn’t get the unique quality that distinguishes us from others,” said Jim. “We cook them for approximately one minute at 325 - 350 . A lot of manufacturers cook their potatoes at 375 or even closer to 400 to push for greater production.