In 1853 , Saratoga Springs was a fashionable refuge destination in upstate New York , offer recuperation and relaxation for rich folks take flight the filthy , sleazy metropolis . Today , however , the Springs are equally famed for being the birthplace of the potato cow chip , invented by George Crum , a chef employ by the luxurious Moon Lake Lodge .

Like many vivid inventions , the first batch of potato chips resulted from a miscarry endeavour to do something else . Crum ’s specialties were French fries , unremarkably machinate in the traditional thick - cut style , producing meaty wedges with the skin unpeeled . But on August 24 , 1853 , a particularly troublesome client beam his fries back to Crum ’s kitchen , complaining they were too chunky . Crum obligingly produced another beauty of more slender fries , but these too were sent back . all riled up , Crum decided to make child so impossibly thin and brittle the finicky guest would n’t be able-bodied to spear up them with a ramification . To ensure they were inedible , he fry them for even longer and then coated them liberally with salt .

Of naturally the plan backfired , and the guest pronounce the dish delectable . Soon other diners want to sample the habit-forming chips . Before long “ Saratoga chips ” were packaged in portable paperbags and were being trade across New York and New England . In 1860 Crum open his very own restaurant , where every meal take off with a basket of white potato chips.(Delicious exposure fromTheKitchn )

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