Fat rewards for healthy crisp makers

Two prominent examples on display at Food & Drink Expo, which was held from March 25–27 at Birmingham's NEC, were Just Crisps and Brown Bag Crisps.

Just Crisps, an offshoot of Just Oil, which is based at Wade Lane Farm in Staffordshire, was showcasing new Jalapeno and unsalted flavours in 40g bags and 1kg catering packs. The products are fried in cold pressed extra virgin rapeseed oil, which has half the saturated fat level of even olive oil and contains omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Just Crisps triple filters the oil to give it an extra light flavour.

Significant growth​

Anthony Froggatt, founder of Just Oil and Just Crisps, said he was selling the products at a premium for farm shops, delicatessens and small foodservice customers, rather than the major supermarkets. Just Crisps was established in May 2011, but had seen "significant growth"​ particularly in the past two months, said Froggatt.

It would be difficult to generate large batches, he said, because the amount of rapeseed oil produced through the cold pressed method was small relative to the amount of rapeseed used. "Nobody else in the UK does rapeseed oil crisps to my knowledge. The biggest problem is we have to sell them at a premium. We only get about 300l [of oil] a tonne."​

Burts Potato Chips​

Some crisp makers, such as Burts Potato Chips, fry crisps in high oleic sunflower oil, which is lower in saturated fat than standard sunflower oil. "You can get high oleic rapeseed oil too,"​ said Froggatt. "We have not gone down that route yet, but we are looking at it."​

Elsewhere, exhibitor Brown Bag Crisps, which was formed in 2010 and is based in Lovelace Road, Berkshire, displayed what it claimed to be the only UK crisps fried in olive oil. The full range incorporates lightly salted; sea salt and malt vinegar; mature cheddar, manchego & onion; and oak smoked chilli flavours in 40g and 120g bags and sea salt and black pepper flavour in 120g bags.

Both products are currently sold mainly through the independent trade as well as local hotels and restaurants.

The next Food & Drink Expo is scheduled to take place on March 23–25, 2014, at the NEC. For further details, contact Daren Rose-Neale on 01293 610355.