Chips are often seen on supermarket shelves, and many people buy them as a snack without thinking about what the product contains or whether it is safe to eat. It is believed that chips are exclusively fried potato slices, but is this really so?
Compound
What's in the chips? If you pick up a mid-price package in a supermarket, you will see the following composition: potatoes, vegetable oil, flavor and aroma enhancer, yeast, sugar, spices, stabilizer and coloring. Manufacturers may also add flavorings, additives and powders, such as bacon or sour cream, to give the product a distinctive taste. However, along with traditional types of chips, you can also find those that should not be called chips, but a potato-wheat snack, since they contain up to 40% of the corresponding vegetable, and they are mostly made from flour and starch, which are otherwise called potato powder.
What are chips actually made from?
What are chips made from? Most often, to reduce the cost of the product, it is based on flour and soy starch, which is made from genetically modified soybeans. These ingredients are mixed and thin plates are made from them, which are then fried in boiling vegetable oil. At the same time, it should be noted that chips can also be made from potatoes, but this does not mean that they are healthy, since in order to avoid damage to the tubers by pests, only hemomodified potatoes are used, which are stored for a long time and have the correct, even shape. GMO foods have been proven to be harmful; they cause infertility and cancer.
Harmful additives in chips
Unfortunately, those people who believe that chips are no more harmful than regular potatoes will be very disappointed, since they contain many additives that are detrimental to health.
What's in the chips? In addition to flavorings, stabilizers and colors, it is monosodium glutamate that makes the chips seem incredibly tasty. The main task of the additive is to stimulate the receptors so that the taste of food seems richer and brighter. Therefore, if after chips you eat regular meat that does not have a lot of spices added, it will seem bland and unsalted.
Monosodium glutamate is an artificially created additive, and therefore is considered harmful to the body, because, by causing excitement in the brain, it is addictive (this is why consumers quickly get used to a certain type of product and give preference to it). If a person often consumes foods with monosodium glutamate, he may develop allergies, bronchial asthma and diseases of the digestive system (gastritis, ulcers, etc.).
Vegetable oil or hydrogenated fat?
We have already found out what chips are made from. What are they fried in? According to the technology for making chips, you need to fry potato pieces in vegetable oil. As you know, good quality sunflower seed oil is very expensive, which is why it is most often replaced with cheap analogues - hydrogenated fat, which does not burn during frying and is stored for a long time, which means it is more profitable for use in production.
Cheap fats do not contain the vitamins that are found in vegetable oil, and therefore are absolutely useless, but at the same time they have a high calorie content, making chips a “cholesterol bomb”, which causes blockage of blood vessels. If they are eaten very often, diseases of the cardiovascular and digestive systems may appear. It is possible that cheap fats are one of the causes of cancer, since if you fry foods in the same oil for a long time, it becomes a carcinogen, which is very toxic to the human body.
Chips "Lays"
This brand of chips is very popular among consumers and has an average price. What is the composition According to the inscription on the package, they include potatoes, vegetable oil, flavoring, flavor enhancer, citric acid, glucose, dye, spices and salt. To prepare the snack, not just any potato is used, but only a separate variety - the so-called chip potato, which contains a lot of starch. It is cleaned, cut into pieces, and then immersed in a frying bath, in which the slices are fried in vegetable oil. After this, various spices are added to Lay's chips to give them a special aroma and taste. Based on the above, the basis of chips is potatoes, but flour is still added to them, in addition, it should be noted that they contain a lot of starch, which is transformed into glucose when entering the body, therefore chips cannot be called a dietary product, taking into account also the fact that 100 g of Lay's chips contains 510 kcal.
Chips: production
The production of chips takes place according to the following classical scheme. Since they are made from potatoes, this vegetable is first supplied to the plant, with separate varieties that are distinguished by a high starch content. After it is thoroughly washed and cleaned, removing all the imperfections of the tuber, the potatoes are sent to a special shredding drum, where the vegetable is finely chopped using an automatic mechanism with built-in knives with a sharp blade. After the potatoes are cut into thin slices, the thickness of which should not exceed more than two millimeters, the potatoes go into a frying bath, into which vegetable oil is previously poured, and are fried at 250 degrees.
The production of chips is carefully checked at every stage to ensure that the products meet all consumer qualities. After frying, various spices, flavorings, salt, flavors and color and taste enhancers are added to the hot product. At some factories that produce chips, the process of making them is slightly different, since the basis for making the snack is not the potatoes themselves, but a mixture of starches and flour. Chips are prepared from them, which are then fried with the addition of mixtures and other additives. The quality of vegetable oil determines how beneficial the product will be for human health, since cheap fats at high temperatures turn into carcinogens that cause cancer.
Calorie content of chips
Chips are mainly flour, starch) and fats (vegetable oil, refined and deodorized fats), and therefore are far from a dietary snack. How many calories are in chips? So, 100 g of product contains about 517-538 kcal, depending on its type. At the same time, the chips contain 49.3 carbohydrates, 2.2 proteins and 37.6 fats. A standard packet of chips is 28 grams and contains 142 kcal, which replaces a bowl of soup with meat or fried potatoes and a couple of pieces of sausage.
Flavorful variety of chips
Today, many different flavors of chips have been invented, so even the most demanding consumer has something to choose from from all their variety. Thus, the most common types of product are chips with mushroom, ketchup, cheese and bacon flavors. In addition, such flavors of chips as “Sour cream and greens”, “Green onions” and “Red caviar” are very popular. New products that are especially suitable for beer are chips with the flavors of chicken wings, lightly salted cucumbers, jellied meat and horseradish, smoked cheese and crab. There are also original flavors, for example, chocolate and chili, mint lamb, pepperoni, fruit (orange, kiwi), Greek salad, balsamic vinegar, wasabi and the like. It should be noted that, naturally, cheese or bacon is not added to potato chips; these are flavorings and flavoring additives that are identical to natural ones.
Are there potatoes in modern chips?
Unfortunately, chips based on potatoes can be found very rarely today, since for the most part this vegetable has long been replaced by potato powder, or, in simple words, flour (corn or wheat) and starch. What are the differences between the products and what harm does reducing the cost of producing chips bring to the consumer? Of course, there is nothing wrong with potatoes fried in high-quality oil. Yes, it is high in calories, but it contains vitamins and nutrients, so it will not cause harm to the body.
However, this cannot be said about the starch and flour from which “potato” chips are made in cheap factories. It is their content in most foods that is considered the main cause of obesity. When glucose, into which starch is converted, accumulates in the liver, a person begins to gain weight, which negatively affects his health. It is difficult for the consumer to distinguish whether the potatoes have been replaced with potato powder or not, since the product contains a lot of monosodium glutamate and other flavoring additives. If you give a person a taste of chips for the first time, he will immediately feel that they contain a lot of salt and spices, which completely interrupt the taste of other ingredients. Doing this is not very profitable, and therefore unprofitable. Therefore, in reality, it is quite difficult to find potatoes in modern chips.
Now you know the composition of the chips. Whether to use this product or not is your choice!
The benefits of chips
Hydrogenated fat, which accumulates in chips, forms a lot of “bad” cholesterol in the blood, which in turn leads to thrombophlebitis, atherosclerosis and a host of other serious diseases. The chips are so heavily saturated with fat that from a small fifty gram bag you will get thirty grams of pure fat. And those who like to eat a big pack get a whole cup of fat “for dessert.”
There are, of course, those manufacturers who make real potato chips from selected potatoes. But even here there is a catch. Potatoes are still genetically modified, like soy starch, because producers need large and even tubers, without a single wormhole, so that the chips turn out beautiful, even, but cheap. And they are fried, like flour products, in cheap fat.
During the process of intense frying, everything useful that could be in these potatoes evaporates, but the harm increases significantly. And first of all, carcinogens appear - dangerous substances that contribute to the appearance of harmful tumors in the human body. A known carcinogen, acrolein, which has carcinogenic and mutational properties, is formed even when all the necessary technologies are followed during frying. To avoid its appearance, you need to change the oil after each preparation; needless to say, this is not done very regularly in production.
Another harmful substance, acrylamide, is formed even by ordinary housewives when using low-quality oil or when the frying pan is heated excessively. And even more so in factory production conditions, because frequent replacement of fat is an unprofitable investment.
Not long ago, another dangerous substance was discovered in chips - glycidamide, which is not only capable of causing cancer, but also destroying the structure of DNA. In addition to everything mentioned, the content of toxins in chips is simply off the charts, including those that have not yet been studied by science. Scientists to this day cannot say exactly what the consumption of all kinds of E-additives contained in delicious chips can lead to.
Air chips
Puffed chips today rank last in terms of toxin content, as they are fried for only ten seconds. However, carcinogens are formed here too, and no one has canceled GM potatoes. It is known that it takes five kilograms of potatoes to prepare one kilogram of chips, so it is more profitable to use special mixtures.
The popular Pringles chips contain only 40% potatoes, thanks to which the owner of the company even got rid of paying a specific tax. After all, these smooth, crispy slices are considered a product made from yeast dough, and not potato chips. But the technology for preparing Pringles differs little from their closest relatives in rustling bags.
On the packages of chips, in bright letters it says: with onions, with cheese, with sour cream, with red caviar - you won’t find any flavors! Recently, however, the law has prohibited misleading people, and manufacturers have begun to tactfully indicate the “taste” of this and that, but the consumer is of little interest in this, because the chicken and dill on the packages look so appetizing, just like the real thing, and what else do you need? to a hungry person who pops into the store during his lunch break?
And sometimes you have to pay for such weaknesses with your own health. It’s rare now to meet a potato chip lover without gastritis, heartburn and other “delights” associated with gastrointestinal diseases.
And if we talk about the high salt content in this product, then metabolic disorders, heart disease and impaired bone tissue formation immediately come to mind.
Harm and contraindications
Children are addicted natures, and they are fond of sweets, fast food and, of course, chips. And they most often take their example from their parents. Many adults, without thinking about the consequences, shove bags of chips at their kids so that they can quickly fall behind and give them the opportunity to go about their business. And they forget that the main job of parents is to take care of the health of their children.
There is nothing worse than the picture when a two-year-old toddler, with tears in his eyes, begs his mother to buy him chips. And she buys her child this delicacy, which not only causes addiction in the baby, it slowly kills him!
Remember that such products are strictly contraindicated for small children! There is no need to accustom them to this diet; you should not eat chips in front of them. If they don’t know about the existence of such “goodies”, then they won’t ask for them. If your child has already become acquainted with chips and loves them, you need to urgently take action. For starters, at least switch to puffed chips, this is considered a safer option. And best of all, stop eating chips yourself, don’t snack on them, don’t take them with beer. For those who cannot live without chips, it is better to eat them as a side dish for vegetable dishes, so it will be easier for the stomach to cope with the “treat”.
Is a bag of chips more valuable to you than your child’s slim waist or healthy stomach? Remember how many delicious and healthy dishes there are. And then you won’t have to replace real tasty and healthy products with a cheap fake in the form of oily potato flakes with cheap flavors.
When it comes to US cuisine, or more precisely, the style of eating in this undoubtedly innovative state, chips come to mind, of course, right after hamburgers and fast food chains.
Today there is not a single person between the ages of 6 and 50 who does not occasionally consume chips. A symbol of men's beer company, movie screenings, lonely breakfast, as well as gastritis - all these are chips.
Chips are simply thinly sliced slices of potato or apple or pineapple or whatever. True, in our country they are perceived exclusively as a potato product packed in a bag.
The first step towards creating chips familiar to all Belarusians was taken by the desperate gourmet railroad builder from America Vanderbilt, who tortured his personal chef George Croom with new food requirements.
One day in 1853, Vanderbilt was giving dinner to his French companions. One of the French had the imprudence to notice that in their homeland potatoes are fried in thinner pieces. “Yes, we can do that too!” - the owner exclaimed and ordered the cook to fry a new portion of potatoes, but “thinner, much thinner!”
The order was completed, but the millionaire was so carried away that he again began to demand: “Thinner, even thinner!” Then the cook, angry with the owner, took a sharp razor, cut the potatoes into slices slightly thicker than a paper sheet and, frying them in boiling oil, served the new dish to the owner and his guests. However, everyone liked such an original dish.
Crispy potatoes, as a new invention, were soon patented, and its progenitor, cook Croom, left a place with the millionaire Vanderbilt, founded a potato chip company and, it is worth noting, made his own million-dollar fortune with its help.
Modernity
Today, the name “chips” combines three independent types of products, similar in shape - all of them are thin plates. Also common to these products is the process of frying in vegetable oil.
1. Potatoes are crispy.
This product has been familiar to us since Soviet times: fresh potato slices fried in oil, seasoned with or without salt.
Potato chips are molded plates of rectangular (100x40x2 mm) or cubic (square: 40x40 mm) shape.
2. Molded chips.
They are made by frying thin plates, flat or corrugated, formed from potato dough, into which, according to the recipe, in addition to potatoes, cereal flour, starch, and salt are also added. The taste of fried potatoes in such chips is practically lost, so most often even more aromatic compositions are added to such chips against the background of monosodium glutamate - the most famous and widely used flavor enhancer in the world. In Europe, this type of chips is now preferred. Domestic manufacturers are also paying attention to it, betting on some of the advantages of their production.
3. Airy chips.
The taste of these chips is very delicate, the presence of starch is almost not noticeable. To flavor this type of chips, significantly fewer additives are required and, as a rule, natural seasonings are used.
Reflections at the counter
Speaking about modern chips, it’s hard not to notice the advantage of molded chips compared to others. Their obvious positive aspects compared to those produced from “fresh potatoes” are obvious. Chips “Pringles”, “Lays” and others like them are supposed to be simple fried potatoes, which are super-thinly sliced and packaged. But excuse me, where is the guarantee that these potatoes are fresh, harmless, naturally grown and not genetically modified? It simply doesn’t exist, so turn your precious consumer attention to chips made using the “air” technology. On the Belarusian market, the undisputed leaders in this segment are Onega and Chelz chips.
If we compare them with the same “Pringles” (the survey showed that buyers have particular confidence in this brand), then the first thing that will catch your eye is the fact that the latter have an increased fat content, which is 38.5%. 
While the fat content of Onega is 5% lower. These chips are made from a dry semi-finished product - "pellets" by short-term frying in vegetable oil, followed by the application of flavoring and aromatic additives. Unlike the traditional technology for making chips from fresh potatoes, the pellet frying technology has a number of advantages, the main one of which is a short technological cycle, quick frying for 5-15 seconds in vegetable oil, while chips from fresh potatoes need to be fried for 8-10 minutes, which negatively affects the quality of the finished product and fat content.
Why did we talk specifically about the fat content of the chip product? Judge for yourself, this is the indicator that speaks about the calorie content and tactile “convenience”.
Other advantages of Onega chips
is the use of high-quality raw materials: potato flakes, wheat flour and starch. Belarusian potatoes are used for production, which means that the likelihood of consuming gene potato mutants is completely eliminated. A semi-finished product prepared from these components is a guarantee of stable quality, uniform taste, and a specific corrugated elongated structure contributes to the most convenient use of chips. Moreover, “Onega” and “Chels” chips are produced in our country, which means they meet local sanitary and hygienic requirements, formulated in strict accordance with Belarusian realities.
Speaking today about chips, everyone understands perfectly well that this is far from the healthiest product in our lives and we should not abuse the variety of flavors of the salty “crunches”. But, as they say, you have to choose the lesser of two evils. This means that in this case it is better to stop looking at the local chip attractions.
To minimize the “chips harm”, try to consume them as much as possible on their own, but not with beer (in this case, all the calories will be yours for a long time). Also, chips cannot be the only food a day, do not force your stomach to work only with “weighted material”, make sure that even in a situation of acute hunger there is not only a pack of chips, but also a pack of kefir nearby.
Ingredients:
100 grams of dry starchy rice
400 ml water
salt, pepper to taste
vegetable oil for frying
Difficulty of preparation: *
Cooking time: 45 min + 2 hours for drying
Calorie content per 50 g: 346 kcal
Rice chips are a very popular product in the countries of Southeast Asia; you can find such a snack at almost every step; bags of these chips hang from street vendors in the form of garlands. A large number of different tastes and aromas can be obtained by adding various additives to these chips. It's quite easy to make this snack at home, you just need to be patient to dry the rice sheets slowly. The indicated quantity yielded 4 standard oven-safe sheets of dry chips, and in the title photo this is the quantity from 1/2 sheet.
This delicacy will appeal not only to adults, but also to children who like to crunch something, and ordinary chips are quite harmful.
1. Prepare all products. Rinse the rice in plain water until the water is clear. Pour the rice into a thick-bottomed pan and fill it with 400 ml of cold water.
2. Put the rice on the fire and bring to a boil over maximum heat. After boiling, reduce the heat to low and cook the rice until tender, for 30-40 minutes.
3. Grind the finished rice using a blender into a homogeneous mixture. Place the rice mixture on a silicone mat and spread it evenly to a thickness of 1-1.5 mm.
4. Place the baking sheet in the oven at 80 degrees and dry with the door ajar for 1.5-2 hours. When the rice mixture begins to pull away from the silicone mat and is dry, remove it. On one side the rice leaf will be matte and on the other side glossy, do the same with the remaining dough.
5. Break the rice leaf into arbitrary pieces. Heat the vegetable oil to a temperature of 180-190 degrees; if it gets hotter, the chips will immediately burn and you may not have time to pull them out. For convenience, it is best to use tongs; they are the easiest way to pick up the finished butter chips. Drop the chips into the heated oil one at a time; in literally half a second they become bright white and airy, and in the second half they can already burn.
Potato chips consistently top the list of healthiest foods. Nutritionists are convinced that the popularity of this type of fast food is the main reason for the “rejuvenation” of many diseases of the liver and gastrointestinal tract.
Paradox: potatoes are a dietary product containing a large amount of vitamins and microelements. Doctors strongly recommend that patients with gastritis and stomach ulcers include mashed potatoes in their diet. But if you briefly fry the same vegetable in a large amount of vegetable oil, doctors unanimously recognize the dish as poison. To understand whether the harm of chips is exaggerated, let’s consider their features.
History of potato chips
Classic potato chips are thin slices of potato, deep-fried and seasoned with salt (sometimes additionally with spices). The dish was invented on August 24, 1853 by George Crum, a restaurant chef in Saratoga (USA).
On that memorable day, the establishment was visited by millionaire Vanderbilt. The important guest drove the chef crazy: Vanderbilt sent back a platter of fried potatoes several times, claiming that the slices were cut too thick. In the end, Kram cut the thinnest, translucent “petals” from the tubers with a razor and deep-fried them. The picky customer liked the golden crispy slices.
Soon, “Saratoga Potatoes” became fashionable in the United States, and Mr. Crum, with the support of Vanderbilt, opened a chip factory.
Features of different types of chips
During the 20th century, chips “conquered” the whole world. True, now this delicacy bears little resemblance to the original version.
Today's chips contain so many flavors, dyes and flavoring additives that they are a product of the chemical industry rather than the food industry.
Main types of potato chips:
- “crispy potatoes” are thinly sliced fried potatoes with a short shelf life. Due to the absence of dyes in the composition, the product does not have a very presentable appearance, but causes minimal harm to health;
- chips made from thin potato slices (smooth or grooved). For production, tubers of genetically modified varieties are used: regular shape, high starch content. To prevent the fried slices from crumbling, the pulp is impregnated with special additives;
- chips made from flour: wheat, corn, potato, and genetically modified soy starch. The puree-like mass is rolled out in a thin layer, cut into plates of various shapes and fried. The content of potato flour in a product depends on the integrity of the manufacturer; cheap chips often do not have it at all. Chemical additives give fast food potatoes a pleasant taste;
- puffed chips are crispy, fluffy shapes of fried potato mass that are deep-fried for just 10 seconds, so these chips are less harmful than slices and plates that are cooked for about 30 seconds.
Due to the large amount of oil and chemical additives, potato chips from some manufacturers do not smoke, but burn with an open fire The effect of chips on the human body
The harm of potato chips is due to several factors:
- When heated to 160°C, the beneficial fatty acids contained in sunflower oil decompose, forming carcinogenic compounds. Therefore, even homemade fried potatoes are not very healthy. But chip manufacturers do not use sunflower oil for frying, but the cheapest palm oil. To reduce production costs, several batches of chips are fried in the same oil, rather than being thrown out after a single use. As a result, a toxic substance is formed in hot fat - acrolein;
- when frying, potato starch decomposes, the ingredients react to form acrylamide, a toxin that adversely affects visual acuity, the condition of the liver, kidneys and nervous system;
- with prolonged heating, acrylamide decomposes, and instead of it, glycidamide is formed - a potent carcinogen that disrupts the process of DNA synthesis and promotes mutations. Potato fast food is absolutely contraindicated for pregnant and lactating women;
- A flavor enhancer – monosodium glutamate – must be added to the product. The substance acts almost like a drug: to a person accustomed to monosodium glutamate, food without it seems bland and tasteless. But such a person is able to eat much more foods with glutamate than is required to satiate. That’s why there are so many overweight people among fast food lovers;
- There is much more salt in chips than in regular dishes. Salt has the property of retaining water in the body, which leads to edema, and increases the secretion of gastric juice. And since dry, completely devoid of vitamins, but high-calorie chips enter the stomach, the likelihood of irritation of the mucous membrane increases;
- 100 g of chips - 30% fat, that is, two tablespoons.
Regular abuse of chips leads to the deposition of cholesterol plaques in blood vessels, cholecystitis, pancreatitis, gastritis, stomach ulcers, allergies and other serious diseases. Due to the lack of vitamins in the product, brain activity deteriorates and depression develops. A person feels a serious deterioration in their health after just a month of eating chips every day.
How to convince children to give up chips
Because of the original, colorful TV advertising, it is considered normal to enjoy potato fast food while watching a movie or TV show. It is very difficult to explain to a child why you can’t eat chips if everyone around you tells you how delicious it is.
In 2013, an experiment was conducted in one of the Dnipropetrovsk schools: a rat in a living corner was fed exclusively with chips for 20 days. By the end of the experiment, the animal was bald and almost blind. An autopsy showed that the rodent's liver had begun to decompose. After this experience, the entire school abandoned fast food.
Chemical additives that give chips their taste cause allergic reactions and disrupt the functioning of the sebaceous glands. Teenagers who often eat fast food develop a purulent rash, including on the face. For those who squeeze out ulcers, the scars remain for life.
All manufacturers' claims about the benefits of chips do not stand up to criticism. To suppress hunger, it is much easier and healthier to eat an apple, an orange, a handful of raisins, or a bun.
If you really want delicious potato slices, then it’s better to fry them yourself. You can buy store-bought chips every few months, but even a healthy person can cause heartburn.
The benefits of potato chips are very questionable, but the harm is real. In order to preserve beauty and health longer, you need to give up chemical fast food and wean your children off it.
Loading...