When did jalapeno potato chips come out?

February 23, 2019 8:49 AM

My boy asked me this and it is a surprisingly difficult question to Google: when were jalapeno chips released as a flavor? Who did it first? (Note: tiny-batch-in-a-brow-bag or guy-on-a-cart stories are welcome, but I mean a decent-sized brand.) (Also note: our guess is '87.)
posted by AgentRocket to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

Best answer: This NYT article dates it to 1984

JUNE 1, 1988

THE potato-chip market is getting hotter - as in spicier -thanks largely to a Houston company, Bob's Texas Style Chips, whose goal is to ''make your eyes water,'' its president, Robert Rod, said.

Ever since Bob's introduced its jalapeno-flavored potato chips four years ago, hot chili flavor has been all the rage. A Louisiana company, Zapp's Potato Chips, came out with its own version a year later. Now, the two companies are feuding. ''Ours is the hottest,'' Mr. Rod said. ''Ours are more flavorful,'' said Ron Zappe, the president of Zapp's.
posted by Karaage at 8:59 AM on February 23, 2019 [5 favorites]

Best answer: It's likely they were a regional maker's flavor first and then got picked up by other regions and eventually the big manufacturers as consolidation happened. Potato chips lasted a long time as a heavily regionalized product because they are not easy to ship and keep fresh.

Google Books often provides helpful clues:

Here is a mention from 1974: "Mia went to the fridge, took a Diet Pepsi, and found the jalepeno potato chips her father liked"

From a Prepared Foods trade journal in 1987, this looks like a roundup of new product intros: "Old Time Smokehouse Jalapeno potato chips manufactured by Daniel & Reese (Rowlett, Texas) are distributed in Austin markets"

Also in 1987, Snack Food trade journal listed some new products, saying "These included Jalapeno Potato Chips (now being tested in Denver by Rocky Mountain Snacks, Pine Bluffs, Wyo.)"
posted by Miko at 9:05 AM on February 23, 2019 [3 favorites]

Zapp's (J. Kenji Lopez-Alt likes the Voodoo chips) and Bob's Texas Style chips are still around (though both brands are now owned by Utz).
posted by box at 10:07 AM on February 23, 2019 [2 favorites]

Tim's Cascade has had jalapeno chips from the beginning as I recall - 1986.
posted by brookeb at 4:24 PM on February 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

I would have guessed seventies, because as a kid in CO in the eighties it seemed like they were already a thing.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:59 PM on February 25, 2019