America’s Test Kitchen’s writer and food critic Kevin Pang placed Alaska Chip Company’s Grizzly BBQ Chip among its favorites chips during a mission to find the best BBQ chips in the US, after sampling 30 regional brands.
“Of all the chips sampled, this Anchorage-based brand offered the deepest potato flavor (there are some chip brands with potato flavors that are barely present). Could it have something to do with it being made with Alaska-grown potatoes? I don’t know, but they’re delicious… There’s a heavy coating of spice mix, with a well-rounded balance of sweet, savory, and smoky and a rich aftertaste. The crunch is strong (the chips are fried in either corn oil or sunflower oil). This is a complete, all-around grade-A potato chip,” Pang said, cited by Must Read Alaska.
Alaska Chip Co. owner Ralph Carney credits the deep potato flavor of the chips to the hearty Alaska potatoes used to make the chips. Alaska potatoes are smaller and denser than potatoes grown in other regions. The denser Alaska Grown potatoes have more sugar, creating a crunchier, more potato forward chip, he said.
Ralph and Darcy Carney came up with the idea in 2002 to make an all-natural potato chip in Alaska, using Alaska-grown potatoes.
The top barbecue-flavored chips, according to the survey, are made by Wachusett of Massachusetts, followed by Middleswarth of Pennsylvania, Great Lakes of Michigan, Gibbles of Pennsylvania, Deep River of Connecticut, and Grizzley Barbecue of Anchorage.
