What are orange chips and where did they come from? A guide to a Black Country food icon

It's part of the culinary landscape of the Black Country, spoken of in the same way and with the same reverence as oatcakes in north Staffordshire, pasties in Cornwall and jellied eels in east London, and can be found in chip shops all across the Black Country.

With National Fish and Chip Day taking place on Thursday, June 6, it's a good time to take a look at what makes an orange chip, where it originates from and where the best places are to get them, so here is a guide to the humble orange chip.

What are orange chips?

Simply put, the orange chip is a regular potato chip which is deep-fried in a thick orange-coloured batter and which comes out and into the serving area crispy, glowing with orange colouring and full of flavour.

How do they become orange?

There's a number of different ways that chip shops work to create their orange chips, with some owners having recipes they swear by and keep secret to maintain the magic.

One way of creating the orange chips is through adding different colourings or flavourings to make the batter change colour, including using paprika, turmeric and food dye.

Other places discovered that the batter they were using for the fish had turned an orangey colour and experimented with putting some of the batter in the oil for frying the chips, with the results being well-received.

However, if you ask a lot of chip shop owners, they will tell you that the recipe is a long-held family recipe and they are sworn to secrecy, so it can be a mystery at the same time.

Where were orange chips first created?

The origins of who created orange chips first is subject to a lot of discussion, with many shops claiming to be the place which did it first.

If we go by the place which claimed to do it earliest, then the concept of orange chips may have originated from the Queen's Fish Bar in Great Bridge.

The owner of the Black Country Chippy Dean Gilbert has said that his grandfather Albert Walls had created the first orange chips in the late 1950s after making the chips late in the evening to use up the extra batter which was a very dark colour.

He said: "There has been a lot of debate over the years about who invented the orange chips, but every time we have read about it in the Express & Star my grandad has been adamant that it was him in Queenie's.

"The batter we used was very dark, almost orange and one night he put some on the chips to see what it was like and the customers loved it.

"They insisted on having it like that every time.

"We have carried on the family tradition at the Black Country Chippy and despite the competition we have kept all their regulars. Some have been coming for years."

Where are the best places to get orange chips from?

The Black Country is full of chip shops which make orange chips, so you are spoilt for choice wherever you go in the region.

We've asked Express & Star readers what they think the best place to buy orange chips is, with dozens of chip shops featuring on the list from across the region.

Black Country Chippy in Great Bridge again features on the list, with other places in Sandwell including Brunswick, Carls and Darlaston Chippy in Wednesbury, the Island House and Victoria Chippy in Tipton, JJs in Roseville, Chipbox in Stone Cross, Dr Vinegars in Oldbury, Whiteheath Fish Bar in Rowley Regis and Hill Top Fish Bar in West Bromwich.

In Dudley, the Black Country Museum offers a taste of the Black Country with Hobbs and Sons, but is just one of a number of popular chip shops named by readers as their favourite shop.

Other favourites include the Blue Submarine, Sofi's Plaice, Crispy Cod and George's in Dudley, Hooked on Fish in Cradley, Pensnett Fish Bar in Pensnett and Nemos in Gornal.

In Walsall, one of the favourites is a van which travels around the borough and which drew rave reviews, while Chip Pan in Willenhall and Sunny's and Green Chippy in Darlaston and Bentley Fish Bar in Bentley are all other favourites from the borough.

Finally, in Wolverhampton and the surrounding area, Warstones Chippy in Warstones, Chaplins and Majors in Bilston, East Park Chippy, Mr Smiths in Swindon, Pennfields Plaice, Penn Chippy and Ocean in the city centre are all on the list.

Have we missed your favourite? Please let us know at [email protected]