In an attempt to create a special snack to go with their high quality beer, Sweetish brewery St. Erik's has created the world's most expensive potato chips.
Apparently, St. Erik's didn't think Lays or Pringles chips were good enough to pair with their ale, so they decided to create their own exclusive snack and price it accordingly. "St. Erik's Brewery is one of Sweden's leading microbreweries and we're passionate about the craftsmanship that goes into our beer. At the same time, we felt that we were missing a snack of the same status to serve with it," brand manager Marcus Friari said in a statement.
"A first--class beer deserves a first--class snack, and this is why we made a major effort to produce the world's most exclusive potato chips. We're incredibly proud to be able to present such a crispy outcome."
The luxurious black box designed by St. Erik's contains just five individual potato chips, each made by hand by a chef, using five special Nordic ingredients - Matsutake mushroom picked from pine forests in northern Sweden, truffle seaweed from the waters around the Faroe Islands, Crown Dill hand-picked on the Bjare Peninsula, Leksand Onion grown on the outskirt of the small Swedish town of Leksand and India Pale Ale Wort, the same kind used to make St. Erik's Pale Ale beer.
The potatoes themselves, are also special. They apparently come "from the potato hillside in Ammarnas, a steep, stony slope in a south-facing location where almond potatoes are cultivated in very limited numbers. The slope is difficult for modern agricultural machines to access, which means that all potatoes are planted and harvested by hand."
"All of the chips have been made by hand," chef Pi Le says. "It took a delicate touch, a finely honed sense of taste and time to ensure that each chip would achieve a perfect balance between the various ingredients. The taste is a very Scandinavian one. Most people recognize potatoes and onions, but what stands out is the quality. All of the ingredients are of a stature that not many will have tried before. These chips are an excellent accompaniment to craft beer, or simply enjoyed on their own."
A limited batch of 100 St. Erik's potato chips went on sale last week, and sold out almost instantly, despite the insane price of $56 per box - that's about $11 per chip. Unfortunately, there's no word about a second batch going on sale anytime soon, but considering the smashing success of the first, I would definitely not rule it out.
