POTATO CHIPS, FRENCH FRIES & FLAKES

When American-style potato chips were introduced in Great Britain in the 1920s, to avoid confusion with the established term “chip potatoes” they were called potato crisps or simply crisps. Over time, though, these clearly drawn distinctions became blurred. For instance, British-style batter-fried fillets and fried potatoes have become popular in the United States and Canada, and even on the western side of the Atlantic they’re called “fish and chips.” Similarly, when thin French fries—along with hamburgers and other American fast foods—went global, the word “fries” became the standard term in many English-speaking countries (at least in fast-food outlets). Likewise, as American snack foods were marketed overseas, the term potato chips was adopted throughout the world, even in the United Kingdom—although most people there do still call them “crisps”. The creators of novel potato-based snacks have introduced some new coinages to the world of chips and crisps. In 1967, General Mills introduced Chipos, said to be tastier, crisper, lighter, and less oily because they were fried much faster than traditional potato chips. Two years later Procter & Gamble introduced Pringles, made from dehydrated and reconstituted potatoes. Pringles are uniform in size and shape, so they can be stacked and packaged in a tube. Chipos didn’t make the cut as a commercial product. Pringles were a tremendous success and are sold all over the world, but apparently the time has not arrived for them to be enshrined in an Oxford dictionary. Potato is widely consumed as food all over the world. Cooked potatoes, in various forms are offered in restaurants and refreshment stalls and variety of processed potato products are available in the market. Surplus and cull potatoes are used as feed for livestock and also as raw material for the manufacture of starch, ethyl alcohol and a few other industrial products. Potatoes are consumed not only as a fresh vegetable, but also in a variety of processed forms. Dehydrated potato products have been known for long and are especially valued because they afford convenience for use; they have good storage stability and are relatively any to transport. In recent years, there has been, a great spurt in the consumption of processed products, such as potato chips, dehydrated meshed potatoes, and frozen potato products. Potato chips are basically used for snacks purposes. They are produced by rapid dehydration of potato slices by direct contact with hot fact. Its crispness and special palatability make it the favorite of people of all age group. Different varieties of potatoes are usually used for chips. In India, almost all part of the country produces it but the main share of the total production comes from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal & Orissa. The difference between crisps and chips is quite varied, depending on where in the English speaking world one is located. The varying definitions which have emerged for these two terms illustrate the immense divergence of the English language, and in the way in which concepts disseminate between English speakers and nations which use English. Of course, for the person puzzling over the packaging in the snack foods aisle, the distinction between the two may be less academic in nature. In the United States, thin slices of potato which are fried and served cold are known as potato chips, while slices or wedges of potatoes which are fried and served hot are known as fries or French fries. A “crisp” in American parlance is a fruit dessert with a sweet crumb topping, and has absolutely nothing at all to do with potato products. Canadians also use the potato chip and French fry terminology, as do some Europeans. Great Britain and Ireland refer to potato chips as “crisps,” and fries as “chips.” In some areas, speakers of British English may talk about “chips” when they refer to thick potato wedges, and “fries” when they refer to thin potato strips, sometimes known as “shoestring potatoes” in the United States. One way to remember the distinction between crisps and chips in Britain is to recall one of the most famous dishes of this region: fish and chips, which is made with pieces of battered fried fish and potatoes, all served hot. In New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and other regions with a recent and active British influence, people have various ways of talking about crisps and chips. In some areas, “crisps” is used as a blanket term for all fried potato products, hot or cold, and people may talk about “packet crisps” when they want to refer specifically to cold fried potato slices. “Chips” may be used to discuss things like corn or tortilla chips, which are made from materials other than potatoes. Potato snacks are popular in many regions of the world, as the plethora of flavors available indicates. Visitors to regions with unfamiliar terminology may find themselves accidentally ordering the wrong thing, or they may be quite confused over the labeling on supermarket shelves and in restaurants. People who are uncertain about the distinction between crisps and chips in the nations they visit should definitely not be afraid to ask for clarification from a native. Frozen French Fries is an important snacks food having good demand and is being appreciated by masses. Freezing food preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Freezing food slows down decomposition by turning residual moisture into ice, inhibiting the growth of most bacterial species. In the food commodity industry, there are two processes: mechanical and cryogenic (or flash freezing). The freezing kinetics is important to preserve the food quality and texture. Quicker freezing generates smaller ice crystals and maintains cellular structure. Cryogenic freezing is the quickest freezing technology available due to the ultra low liquid nitrogen temperature (-196°C). Frozen products do not require any added preservatives because microorganisms do not grow when the temperature of the food is below -9.5°C, which is sufficient on its own in preventing food spoilage. Long-term preservation of food may call for food storage at even lower temperatures. Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), a tasteless and odorless stabilizer, is typically added to frozen food because it does not adulterate the quality of the product. The freezing technique itself, just like the frozen food market, is developing to become faster, more efficient and more cost-effective. Mechanical freezers were the first to be used in the food industry and are used in the vast majority of freezing / refrigerating lines. They function by circulating a refrigerant, normally ammonia, around the system, which withdraws heat from the food product. This heat is then transferred to a condenser and dissipated into air or water. The refrigerant itself, now a high pressure, hot liquid, is directed into an evaporator. As it passes through an expansion valve, it is cooled and then vaporizes into a gaseous state. Now a low pressure, low temperature gas again, it can be reintroduced into the system. Cryogenic or (flash freezing) of food is a more recent development, but is used by many leading food manufacturers all over the world. Cryogenic equipment uses very low temperature gases – usually liquid nitrogen or solid carbon dioxide – which are applied directly to the food product.