Are Pringles actually crisps?
The favorite from the minibar, the companion during flight delays: Pringles are unusual crisps. But are they actually crisps? Who came up with them, and how are they made?
If you look at the ingredients list, you may be surprised. Pringles consist of 42 percent… potato. Strange, because they don’t really taste like potato, nor do they look like plain crisps or other potato crisps. That may be because Pringles were invented by food technologists.
Greasy fingers and crumbs
Market research in the 1950s showed that people liked eating crisps, but pointed out two areas for improvement: they crumbled, and you were left with greasy fingers. Can we fix that, doctor? Certainly—the clever people at Proctor & Gamble put their heads together. They spent years experimenting until they eventually arrived at the right formula. Because they didn’t want the crisps to break, they also came up with different packaging: a sturdy tube in which the new crisps could lie neatly. And all the same shape, so they wouldn’t bump into one another. Thorough approach, you might say.
Not chips, but ‘crisps’
Thanks to all kinds of legal complications, they weren’t allowed to call Pringles ‘chips’ in America. Crisp manufacturers protested: if they don’t crumble, aren’t greasy and aren’t actually thin slices of fried potato, then they aren’t chips—and that couldn’t appear on the packaging either. No problem, let’s call them ‘crisps’ instead. P&G hadn’t yet thought about the trouble that would cause them in England.
VAT on crisps
In 2009, a court case in Great Britain determined whether Pringles were actually potato crisps. The lawsuit wasn’t brought by concerned manufacturers, but by P&G itself. Why does it matter, you ask? Less VAT is paid on crisps than on ‘savory snacks’, as the government wanted to call those slices in a tube, so yes, it made quite a difference.
Artistotelis
A deeply philosophical matter for the court. According to P&G, Pringles really were crisps because they embodied ‘the essence of a potato crisp’. You spend years studying law only to deliberate over the potato-like character of savory snacks. The judge called it an Aristotelian dilemma and decided: yes, even though Pringles aren’t one hundred percent potato, they could still be called crisps.
Smart little crisp
So what are they, really? Pringles are cut from a thin sheet of dough made from potato powder, corn and flour, with some flavorings, oil and spices. They go into the fryer in small round baskets and are then stacked in that cardboard tube. Crisps, then—and at 516 calories per 100 grams, they’re slightly less fatty than ordinary plain crisps. But watch out for their moreishness: have you ever eaten 100 grams of Pringles? Of course not—the tube will be empty before your plane takes off or your film reaches the halfway point, with your fingers already touching the bottom of the tube. Smart crisps, that’s for sure.
Also read:
- These are the unhealthiest crisp flavors in the world
- Your snack is getting more expensive, and this is why
- An ode to the Bifi sausage
Source: My Recipes
