Let the chips fall: Penn State supports state's potato chip heritage

At Penn State, thousands of potato varieties from around the globe are put through extensive cross-breeding programs, genetic research and intercollegiate collaborations. But once a year, the University's potato researchers switch from pipettes, computers and other high-tech equipment to potato peelers, slicers and a deep fryer. It's potato-chipping time.

For a few days, research technicians head for Building C at Penn State's Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs to fry and rate potato chips. They test four potato cultivars at a time, taking eight slices from the center of each to fry them in commercial fryers. Laying out 16 separate piles on a table, the researchers meticulously evaluate the chips with a 10-stage, light-to-dark visual rating chart that shows the chips levels of darkness immediately after frying.

Barbara Christ, head of the plant pathology department, who oversees the potato research program and annual chipping process ( and serves as hands-on member of the chipping crew ), said there's plenty of tasting, but the potatoes aren’t being rated for flavor. Up to 240 discrete varieties are being rated for appearance only, as researchers find out which spuds can be turned into pale-golden, crispy chips after four months in cold storage. From exotically colored imports to table-quality tubers, each is evaluated for chip-worthiness.

That's appropriate, she explained, because while many researchers and commercial outfits are growing and developing hundreds of potato varieties, not many places actually give them the chip test.

"We're actually one of a very few programs that does chip processing,"Christ said. "The University of Maine and Penn State are the only two on the East Coast that do as much chip processing, and I think we do much more than most across the country. If someone has a variety from Idaho, they may ask us to put it in our chipping trials. Our reputation is built on the amount of testing and processing that we do."