The Potato Trip

My younger brother loves Utz pretzels, it goes well with his beer he says.

I can only understand half of what he says because I do not drink beer.

But Utz does not ship their products to Asia. Not even the West Coast. Specially not their heavenly potato chips. If you like Lays, Utz potato chips is infinitely better. Its only available in some States in the East Coast. They are not available in the Midwest either except for Costco, Sam's Club and other wholesale stores. Its a quality issue.

Potato chips was an accidental invention. An Admiral dining in a Saratoga inn complained about his fried potatoes, saying that they were sliced too thick. The cook who was a Native American was offended and to take revenge she sliced the potatoes paper thin.

Instead of getting mad at the cook's culinary sarcasm, the official called the cook out to compliment her on the "invention". The story stuck in my mind because it was born in a sarcastic tone. Those chips were called "Saratoga chips" and then later simply "potato chips".

A couple from Hanover, Pennsylvania named Bill and Sally Utz decided to sell these kind of chips at the local farmer's market. They hand cooked the chips in their 2 storey home. Soon, they mechanized their production by purchasing a mechanical slicer and a deep fryer.

Don't ask me what they looked like and how they worked because I am no engineer and I am not interested in those details. I leave it to your imagination because most of my blog followers are intelligent. That's the reason there's very few of you. You are a "select few". My blogs are not for everyone.

Well anyway, the trip to the Utz Potato Chip factory in Landover, PA was part of our post-Christmas road trip. That was our destination after my wife and daughter's window shopping at the Rockvale and Tanger Outlet stores out in Lancaster.

Lancaster has the best Red Roof Inn and the most interesting Amish community in the East Coast. Its also very affordable to stay there and that's the primary reason we do that. Besides its picturesque countryside scenery is beckoning.

As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted by my hyperactive verbiage, the potato chip factory wafted a delicious smell as soon as we got off our car. The Utz sign drew shrieks of delight from my 7 year old son. Utz Honey BBQ Potato Chips is his version of Snack Heaven.
So we proceeded to the factory like pilgrims to a shrine. Seeing the old slicer and fryer felt like I was being transported in time. Like a boy in a time machine, my buttons were pushed once again. I was trying to contain myself, in the container that was Me. We were like winners, winners of the Golden Ticket of that Chocolate Fact'ry.

Oh, I'm sorry, got carried away there.

Then we saw the chips in various flavors: there was Plain, Salt and Pepper, Honey Barbeque, Chesapeake Style and Crab. Along with countless other flavors I cannot recall right now. I apologize for not taking notes.

Then there were pretzels of different shapes and sizes in containers of different sizes and shapes.

We went inside the factory and I proceeded to take out the camera but then the sign said "NO CAMERAS ALLOWED". So I merrily put it back in my jacket.

Entering the viewing area which was about three stories from the factory floor, we were able to see the whole process of Utz. First, the potatoes were peeled, washed, sliced and fried by machine.

Then they went to big tables where women were in charge of sorting the bad and the nice ones. The bad were those that turned out too dark from the dehydration of the frying process. Potatoes were 80% water they say.

The equipment for determining which was a bad or good chip was very sophisticated at Utz. I do not recall what they call it, but we lay people call it women's eyes. The few bad chips went into potato jail. Without exception ! They have no lawyers.

After sorting the naughty from the nice, the chips went to a conveyor belt where they were distributed to different spicing areas. Like I said, Plain, Honey Barbeque and the other flavors. Then they were bagged by machines and then put in boxes by women who worked as fast as, well , whats the word ? Machines.

All the people working in this area are women. The warehouse where the boxes of chips were taken were manned by men. Except for a singular woman who held a clipboard and inspected the boxes for any sign of sabotage or plain error in counting. Take your pick, whichever you find more exciting.

So the men carried the boxes out from the processing area, stacked them up according to spice and size. Then loaded them in ten-wheeler trucks. They used vehicles running on electricity to do this in the Utz factory to maintain the sanitation. No fossil fuels in the area was used.

The whole experience was related by a Voice Over in each manufacturing process which you activated by pushing a button. Thats the reason I am able to relate these things to you with a certain degree of accuracy.

After that we were treated to free bags of potato chips Plain. There were vendo machines selling soda (soft drinks to us) for a $5 each ! Which explains the smile on the face of the guest officer when I was grabbing more than the required Take One please. Just kidding, the soda sold for the usual $1.25 a can and I just took one bag for each member of the family. Honest !

So thats my tale of the Utz factory tour. Now if you will excuse me I got checks in the mail I have to grab. I wonder where they are from ?