The potato chip has surprising ties to Massachusetts

Sink your teeth into these fascinating facts about the popular snack.

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“Ridges? What’s the deal with ridges? It’s like a potato chip you have to iron.” — Jesse Katsopolis (played by John Stamos), “Full House” Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

> 4 — Number of pounds of potato chips the average American consumes each year

> 4 — Miles J.P. Duchesneau drove glass jars of his Tri-Sum Potato Chips via horse and buggy to the Fitchburg Hotel, his first retail sales outlet

> 4 — Pounds of potatoes it takes to make 1 pound of Cape Cod Potato Chips

> 50 million — Pounds of potatoes used by Cape Cod Potato Chips each year at its Hyannis facility

> 2 — Percent of potatoes seen by Cape Cod Potato Chips that are green, not brown

> 350,000 — Number of yearly visitors to the Cape Cod Potato Chips factory in Hyannis, now owned by Snyder’s-Lance

> 1817 — Year William Kitchiner, a British MD, published Apicius Redivivus, or the Cook’s Oracle, including what is credited as the first recipe for potato chips

> 1908 — Year Leominster’s Tri-Sum Potato Chips opened what is thought to be the first commercial potato chip factory

> 1926 — Year Laura Scudder invented the sealed potato chip bag in Monterey Park, California

> 1942 — Year Harvey Noss, “father of the potato chip industry,” got Congress to declare potato chips an “essential food,” protecting the industry from potato or oil rationing during World War II

> 1980 — Year Steve Bernard started Cape Cod Potato Chips, revitalizing kettle-cooking for potato chips

Sources: Tri-Sum Potato Chips, Nielsen, Cape Cod Potato Chips, Alan Richer