What are orange chips and where did they come from? A guide to a Black Country food icon
It's become a delicacy well-known and well-loved across the Black Country for its vibrant colour and unique taste.
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Ask anyone across the region about orange chips and their eyes will light up at memories of trips to the chip shop for a big bag of chips glowing with colour and a taste that is soft, crunchy, tangy and sweet.
It's part of the culinary landscape of the Black Country, spoken of in the same way and with the same reverence as oatcakes in north Staffordshire, pasties in Cornwall and jellied eels in east London, and can be found in chip shops all across the Black Country.
With National Fish and Chip Day taking place on Thursday, June 6, it's a good time to take a look at what makes an orange chip, where it originates from and where the best places are to get them, so here is a guide to the humble orange chip.
What are orange chips?
Simply put, the orange chip is a regular potato chip which is deep-fried in a thick orange-coloured batter and which comes out and into the serving area crispy, glowing with orange colouring and full of flavour.
How do they become orange?
There's a number of different ways that chip shops work to create their orange chips, with some owners having recipes they swear by and keep secret to maintain the magic.
One way of creating the orange chips is through adding different colourings or flavourings to make the batter change colour, including using paprika, turmeric and food dye.
