![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/bzrv2kubpdkxtgv60nav7rdsenvaymwrouxeofcn2ggh1066.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=auto\" "\\"100410578\\"")
<\/p>Despite what you may think, salt and vinegar chips are not made by pouring salt and vinegar into a bag of potato chips (I know, what a bummer). Before vinegar (and it's brow-sweating acetic acid) can be added to a chip, it needs to be processed into a dry foodstuff that will stick to, and more importantly not sog out, a potato chip.<\/p>
How do chip companies do it? Well, many use a process that involves spraying a thin layer of vinegar onto maltodextrin (a light, slightly sweet, flavorless powder derived from starch) or other modified food starch. Maltodextrin's porous structure absorbs a great deal of vinegar flavor, and the mixture can then be dried into a robust powder. Alternatively, many use sodium diacetate, a 1:1 ratio of sodium acetate and acetic acid, which provides salt and vinegar flavor in a dry mixture.<\/p>
Salt and vinegar chips were first produced in the 1950s (thanks Tayto brand!) and it's easy to assume that these dry vinegar technologies were born out of the same era\u2014the one that delivered us boxed cake mixes and Cheez Whiz. In reality, the method of combining starch and vinegar and letting it dry is actually really old. No, I mean really<\/em> old. Here's a home recipe for dry vinegar from The English Housewife: Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to be in a Complete Woman, published in 1615!<\/p> \"To make dry vinegar which you may carry in your pocket, you shall take blades of green corn, either wheat or rye, and beat it in a mortar with the strongest vinegar you can get till it come to a paste; then roll it into little balls, and dry it in the sun till it be very hard; when you have an occasion to use it, cut a little piece thereof and dissolve it in wine, and it will make a strong vinegar.\"<\/em><\/p> So does this mean that there's little new happening in the world of salt and vinegar chips? Hardly.<\/p> In compiling this guide, I found that chip makers are using a wide range of flavoring agents and acids to create unique chips. Surprisingly, a couple brands in our line-up opt for citric (citrus fruits), malic (apples), lactic (milk), and even fumaric (lichen) acids to give them pucker and punch! Lactose makes a frequent appearance, often lending creamy, sometimes cheesy, background flavor. And our old friends monosodium glutamate and the free nucleotides show up (in both natural and isolated forms) in a few offerings.<\/p> It's a crazy chip world out there, and so I designed this guide to give a peek into the innerworkings of each brand. I haven't ranked the chips but the SE'rs did last year. Instead, I ranked these on an acidity scale.\u00a0<\/p> Find the guide here:\u00a0<\/p>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/zcv3filjik5eu7nftyy9mxwh038bywb0nv7ig4txhhupmhgd.png.jpg?w=1140&h=auto\" "\\"100410580\\"")
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