If $5 for a single package of the world’s hottest tortilla chip wasn’t absurd enough for you, Swedish brewery St. Eriks has a contender.
The brewery last week sold and subsequently sold out 100 boxes containing exactly five potato chips — the total price for which amounts to $73 a pop. According to our math, that’s just under $15 a chip.
Before you start raising pitchforks, it’s a tongue-and-cheek marketing gimmick — meant to be savored with St. Erik’s “first-class IPA” — with all proceeds from the sales going to charity.
It worked. Kinda. No word on how the beer tastes, but according to Beer Advocate, it doesn’t look pretty.
Still, that doesn’t detract from outrageous the overall package is. But what goes into the world’s most ‘exclusive potato chip’? Here are the ingredients, according to the brewery:
Matsutake: With a taste similar to that of mature cheese, matsutake is one of the world’s most sought-after species of mushrooms. The matsutake in the chips comes from pine forests in the northern region of Sweden and was picked by hand using cotton gloves in order to preserve their quality.
Truffle Seaweed: As the name suggests, truffle seaweed has a flavor reminiscent of truffles. The seaweed grows in the form of small tufts on the brown algae known as Ascophyllum nodosum, which is only found in cold tidal waters. The seaweed used in the world’s most expensive chips comes from the waters around the Faroe Islands.
Crown Dill: To achieve the distinctive dill flavor, the creators of the chips investigated varieties of Swedish crown dill. The crown dill used was hand-picked on the Bjäre Peninsula in southern Sweden and selected for its fresh, yet powerful flavor.
Leksand Onion: For a balanced onion flavor, we used the much sought-after Leksand onion, a specific variety of the onion family that grows just outside the small Swedish town Leksand. One reason for its excellent flavor may be the fact that the onions are always planted on the eighteenth of May and harvested on the tenth of August, whatever the weather.
India Pale Ale Wort: During the process of brewing beer, the barley malt is converted into a sweet aromatic liquid known as wort. To add a hint of sweetness to the chips, freeze-dried wort was added, of the kind normally used to brew S:t Eriks India Pale Ale.
Ammarnäs Potatoes: The potato in the chips comes from the potato hillside in Ammarnäs, 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.
Not bad for a chip that resembles a really, really fancy pringle.
Join America's Fastest Growing Spirits Newsletter THE SPILL. Unlock all the reviews, recipes and revelry — and get 15% off award-winning La Tierra de Acre Mezcal.
