Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Food bloggers visit Farm Chips
Potato chips. You can't wake me up just yet! But it's a favorite snack for sure. At the invitation of marketing company Dorsvlegel I was allowed to take a look at the Farm Chips factory. You know those transparent bags in which you can see exactly how many chippies are in the bag! In this blog I take you with us food bloggers visit to Farm Chips.
Of course I couldn't go out without my foodie buddy so I got it first in the morning Luuk from the station. Since we really went to the farm, we had to go by car because there are no stations in the middle of the polders. Fairly known area for me because I have lived in Dordrecht myself. A total surprise for the other foodies that there is also a toll road in the Netherlands…. After only a short distance after the Kil tunnel is the farm where it all started.
Farm chips
The text on the bag actually says it all: Crisps so out of the country. And that's absolutely right. Henk welcomes us to the company and trays of crisps are already waiting for us in the canteen. A bit crazy to eat chips next to your cup of tea at 10:00 in the morning, but yes, leaving it alone is just something, isn't it! Henk tells us that the company started in 2005 after a huge dip in the potato price. Because what should you do with your product if you hardly get paid for it?! With a small investment of 500 euros, there is a small oven, a cucumber peeler and a few liters of oil and an idea to make chips from those potatoes.
The initial period
We are passionately told the special story behind the chips. And actually it is a success story that has few setbacks. The first bags are very simple transparent bags that are displayed at a local greengrocer. At first, the best man doesn't feel like it at all. Henk tells him “I'll just leave it here and you look, do you sell them, and if not then not”. Only to receive a phone call in the afternoon that all bags are already sold out and whether he can bring some more. Of course super daring to step into a market where the very big boys dominate.
To have courage
And with a healthy dose of common sense, good market research, some guts and a little luck, the word quickly spreads that there is a new player on the market. Without looking very actively for major collaborations, the requests automatically come to the chip farmers. Often by producers who have tasted the chips themselves and who want to work together with these people and this product. The chippies fly first class with KLM, they are the only supplier to Schiphol airport and there is even a wonderful collaboration with a truffle farmer from Italy.
baking chips
Of course we are very curious about how exactly these chips are baked. After tasting and testing a number of flavors, we put on jackets and hats and go to the barn. Because it is just a converted potato barn with a number of ultra-modern machines. And fresh from the land, the potatoes roll on the belt to a bath where they are washed.
And then dropped into the sunflower oil via a cutting machine. And they bake chips here in 5 minutes! After baking, a number of fully automated belts follow where they dry. The seasoning is done by hand and the nice thing is: the name of the employee who did that is on the bag! So cool that you can see that.
Food bloggers visit Farm Chips
And so a bag of chips is baked in no time and you can eat fresh chips! The best part is: no additives are added to the bags! Just potatoes, sunflower oil, sea salt (or paprika). A wonderfully sustainable company because the potatoes are harvested in front of the door, there is no waste because the residual waste is fermented into energy.
The unsuitable potatoes are processed into animal feed and the used sunflower oil is processed into biodiesel. All in all, this food blogger's visit to farm chips was a real eye-opener to see how chips are made. For the entire video, watch week 40 weekly vlog Delicious bites.
This blog was written on my own initiative. The products for the giveaway have been received. So keep an eye on all socials for the giveaway coming up!
Delicious Happen is a multi-media company, so you can also find me on various social media. follow me on Facebook, Pinterest en Instagram under @delicioushappen. If you make this recipe I would love it if you tagged me #delicioushappen. A comment below in the comments is also nice of course!