Terra Chips

Terra Chips occupy a unique place in snacking because they are actually one of the healthiest chip varieties around. However, they are also a bit of an acquired taste since they are made with a variety of root vegetables rather than corn products or potatoes. The American chip market is directed almost entirely at corn and potato chip products, which makes Terra Chips very different than the regular chip product that you might pick up at the store.

There is something delightfully enticing about the colorful assortment of Terra Chips in the original mixed variety bag, which still draws in enough consumers to keep the brand alive and well. Even if the thought of crunching on sweet potato or yuca chips does not sound appealing, you should still give Terra Chips a try. Root veggies make surprisingly flavorful chips, and you might discover your new favorite chip variety as soon as you eat your first Terra Chip.

History

The Terra Chip has been around for more than 20 years. The shiny black bags that are so distinctive and so directly connected with the brand have remained largely unchanged in design for the entirety of the life of the company. The Terra Chip company has always stood for healthy snacking, and they have stuck to their original recipe, a chef-inspired recipe, despite the changing landscape of snacking.

The Terra Chip is the brainchild of two former chefs who decided that they wanted to make a healthier option for potato chips. They knew that root veggies would make delectable chips because of their cooking skills, and they thought that the colorful nature of these vegetables would make their chip products stand out from the crowd. 

As soon as you see the various Terra Chip offerings in the store, you will realize that chefs Dana Sinkler and Alexander Dzieduszycki were right. Their chips are not only delicious, but they are also colorful and beautiful, and very appealing. While the experience of eating them is not the same as snacking on a potato chip, there is something very satisfying and appealing about the texture and flavor of this unique twist on an old classic. Perhaps best of all, Terra Chips are very healthy and will not make you feel bad about snacking.

The pair of masterminds behind the Terra Chip tried making chips from a variety of vegetables, rejecting celeriac and lotus root and finally settling on the yucca, taro, sweet potato, and batata blend that the band is best known for. While there are some varieties that do not use all of these root vegetables, the original chip bags included them all. 

Technically the company makes all kinds of other chip products today, but this processing work is for other brands and is done alongside the Terra Chip creation process. The Terra Chip brand has always stood for healthy eating and non-traditional ingredients and will no doubt continue to do so. Even if the factory is making other less wholesome chip products, the Terra Chips are never contaminated with the cooking processes and ingredients used for these other contracts.

The first customers bought chips that had been made in Dana’s kitchen at her home. Saks Fifth Avenue was actually the first business to order Terra Chips, and the company was off and running. A 50-case order is a huge order, and this was more than enough to tell Dana and Alex that they were going to be able to make this product a big success. Terra Chips outgrew the kitchen and then their original store-front location as well. The product quickly branched out to be sold all around the US, and the rest, they say, is history. 

Terra Chips were made by hand in the beginning, and the company hired workers to stand over the vats and stir the cooking chips. Over time, the business became so successful that it was possible to upgrade the business to use all kinds of expensive custom machinery that makes the chips faster and with more consistent results. Chips take as little as 15 minutes to be made now, which has made it possible for the company to churn out many more bags of Terra Chips than they could in the early days of the brand’s existence. 

Today Terra Chips are part of Hain Celestial Group Inc, which is actually an entire food company that is focused on natural food products like herbal teas, chips, and even personal care products. This changes the way that the chip products that are made by the company are viewed and marketed, giving them a distinctly health-food vibe. It might even seem like the packaging and all of the marketing of this chip brand are targeted at salons or day spas.

If you love a quality marketing effort behind a snack product, the hefty and thick bags that these chips are sold in with their glossy images of the chips inside emblazoned tastefully on the front will delight you. There is something really magical and almost niche about the feeling of a bag of Terra Chips, and a sense that you are buying something really special comes along with the sensation of holding the product in your hands. This is intentional at some level since the Hain Celestial Group intends for all of its products to be offered with that extra something that makes them feel like luxury goods.

Packaging

The classic packaging for this product was part of what made it stand out from the crowd when it was first released to the market. The bags are thicker than the usual chip bag, and the black background is instantly recognizable among other chips with light-colored or primary-colored bags. The chip variety is described on the bag in simple block lettering, and there is a beautiful photo image of the chip variety included in each bag emblazoned on the front of the bag. 

In the case of the original products, the bottom third of the bag shows images of the various root veggies that make up the blend of chips that are included in each bag as well. Each image has the name of the root vegetable under it so that you can be sure about what you are eating. It’s hard to imagine root vegetables being so beautiful when made into chips, but the bags prove to you that this is entirely possible.

Logo

Varieties

• Original
• Blue
• Mediterranean 
• Terra Taro Chips
• Terra Sweet Potato
• Terra Sweets & Beets
• Terra Sweets & Carrots
• Terra Exotic Harvest
• Terra Zesty Tomato
• Terra Spiced Sweet Potato

Terra Potato Chips

• Terra kettles Sea Salt & Pepper
• Terra kettles Sea Salt
• Terra Lemon Pepper
• Terra Au Natural
• Terra Kettles Sea Salt & Vinegar
• Terra Kettles Chesapeake Bay & Beer
• Terra Kettles General Tso
• Terra Hickory BBQ
• Terra Crinkles Red Bliss
• Terra Crinkles Yukon Gold
• Terra Yukon Gold
• Terra Potato Crisps
• Terra Red bliss
• Terra Stripes & blues
• Terra Stix

The potato chip products have been removed from the shelves in many markets, making people who prefer a healthy potato chip a little grumpy. There is definitely a texture difference between the root veggies and a potato chip, and for some people, this is a deterrent related to the original chip products. 

Ingredients:

The ingredients list for the mixed variety bag of chips states the following:

• A seasonal blend of root vegetables (Taro, Sweet Potato, Batata, Yuca, Parsnip)
• Expeller-pressed canola oil and/or safflower oil, and/or sunflower oil
• Sea salt
• Beet juice concentrate (color)

There are different root veggies in some of the blends, and there are varieties that do not include all of the root vegetables in them. The potato chip lineup does not use root vegetables unless they are included in a blend in the bags in question.

One of the things that the Terra Chips product has always been associated with is healthy snacking, and there are some reasons that you could make this argument in their favor. After all, the ingredient list is comprised of recognizable products and seasonings that you can pronounce, and it is relatively short. Root veggies are also good for you and are not often a part of people’s everyday diets. 

However, a chip is still a chip, and you will need to remember that you are still snacking on a product that is not really a main staple of any healthy diet. Healthy eating when it comes to snacking is a bit of a misnomer. You will probably be sparing yourself some of the calories and the fake flavoring ingredients that are commonly included in chip varieties from other brands, but you should still make sure to check out the caloric intake of each handful of chips if you are counting your calories.

Nutrition

Serving Size:	1 oz (28g)	% Daily Value*
Amount Per Serving
Calories	134
Total Fat	6.6g	8%
Saturated Fat	0.5g	3%
Trans Fat	0g
Polyunsaturated Fat	1.9g
Monounsaturated Fat	4.1g
Cholesterol	0mg	0%
Sodium	101mg	4%
Total Carbohydrates	17g	6%
Dietary Fiber	1.3g	5%
Sugars	1.1g
Protein	1.5g
Vitamin D	0mcg	0%
Calcium	15mg	1%
Iron	0.4mg	2%
Potassium	237.6mg	5%
Caffeine	0mg

• The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Pictures

Ads:

A silly Terra chips ad with the Veggieman. The Veggieman ads are delightfully nutty and include a giant mass of salad and vegetables eating Terra Chips and engaging with the humans who are also in the ads.

A classic Terra ad focused on the wholesome ingredients in each bag:

An “influencers” ad: