Today, there are chips flavored with wasabi, hot sauce, brie cheese, and cappuccino — but none of these flavors have taken off like dill pickle-flavored chips.
Like salt and vinegar-flavored chips' older, more daring cousins, dill pickle-flavored chips have captivated consumers in recent years. So much so that nearly a dozen major brands now sell dill pickle potato chips. Some companies — like Tim's Cascade — began producing them years ago, while other, national brands (Lays, Pringles) only recently introduced them.
Making pickle-flavored chips is quite a different process from making pickles themselves. As Serious Eats explains, a common ingredient in dill pickle-flavored chips is maltodextrin, which is a powder derived from starch that has porous qualities and can absorb flavors such as vinegar. This gives pickle chips that mouth-puckering addictive quality that salt and vinegar chips have. Add to that some dill, garlic powder, and salt and a new classic is born. Another reason dill pickle chips might be taking off? America's obsession with high-quality, artisanal pickles shows no signs of waning. A pickle company — McClure's — even makes pickle-flavored potato chips. And something about pickle potato chips sounds better than salt and vinegar — or maybe that's just us.
Here’s a look at some of the companies that have jumped on board the dill pickle train: http://www.eater.com/2016/8/16/12490056/dill-pickle-potato-chips-trend
