Red Hot Riplets are a kind of spicy potato chips sold in St. Louis,

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. Red Hot Riplets are ridge-cut chips covered with hot

chili pepper Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for ...

and sweet

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

powdered

seasoning Seasoning is the process of supplementing food via herbs, spices, salts, and/or sugar, intended to enhance a particular flavour. General meaning Seasonings include herbs and spices, which are themselves frequently referred to as "seasonings". Ho ...

. The label describes the flavoring as "St. Louis Style Hot Sauce". Old Vienna Snack Food Co. distributes Riplets locally. The chips are sold at many local businesses, from mom and pop stores to chains such as Schnucks and even

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVE, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. A ...

Flavor

Red Hot Riplets are spicier than potato chips available in national brands. The chips have a bright red color that comes naturally from the powdered peppers. Red Hot Riplets used to be fried in

partially hydrogenated Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to reduce or saturate organic co ...

vegetable shortening, but they are now fried in liquid vegetable oils. Old Vienna has also made Red Hot Thins with same seasoning on thin-cut potato chips, Cheesy Red Hot Riplets with the addition of a cheese powder, and Red Hot Pork rinds. In 2003 Esquire magazine included Red Hot Riplets in their article and list "Best Potato Chips You've Never Tasted".

Manufacturer

Old Vienna Snack Food Company was founded in 1936 by Louis Kaufman in St. Louis. The firm changed hands many times before folding in 1996. In that same year, a group of former employees resurrected the brand, which continues to be headquartered in the city of Fenton, a suburb of St. Louis. , the company had about 20 employees. As of late 2007, there was a bottled

hot sauce Hot sauce is a type of condiment, seasoning, or salsa made from chili peppers and other ingredients. Many commercial varieties of mass-produced hot sauce exist. History Humans have used chili peppers and other hot spices for thousands of years ...

with a label similar to the Red Hot Riplets bag, that contained "St. Louis Style" hot sauce. The hot sauce was discontinued, but was brought back in 2018. Distribution of the seasoning is throughout the St, Louis region at local markets, gas stations, and will be available in St. Louis grocery stores in Spring of 2017. Many St. Louis restaurants have also added new menu items featuring the Red Hot Riplet Seasoning. Their other products include: *Cheesy Red Hot Riplets Potato Chips *Red Hot Riplets Potato (Thins) (Discontinued) *Hot Corn Chips (Red Hot Riplet spiced corn chips.) *Sweet & Tangy Corn Chips *Cheese Popcorn *White Cheddar Popcorn *Hot Cheese Popcorn *Hot Diggety's Corn Puffs (Discontinued) *Original Pork Rinds *Red Hot Pork Rinds *Bar B Que Pork Rinds *Red Hot Riplets Nuggets *Movie Theatre Popcorn

In popular culture

The chips are also known outside of St. Louis because of the rappers

Murphy Lee Torhi Harper (born December 18 1979), better known by his stage name Murphy Lee, is an American rapper, best known as a member of the hip hop group St. Lunatics. His debut album, '' Murphy's Law'', peaked at number 8 on the ''Billboard'' 200 m ...

and

Nelly Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, actor and entrepreneur. He embarked on his music career with the hip hop group St. Lunatics in 1993 and signed to Universal ...

. Murphy Lee wrote a song "Red Hot Riplets" (from the album Murphy's Law) that mentions them in the

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

. When Murphy Lee was included in the Rap Snacks line of chips, he had them duplicate the Red Hot Riplets recipe as his flavor of Rap Snacks.

"Not For Sale in CA" Label

Due to

Acrylamide Acrylamide (or acrylic amide) is an organic compound with the chemical formula CH2=CHC(O)NH2. It is a white odorless solid, soluble in water and several organic solvents. From the chemistry perspective, acrylamide is a vinyl-substituted primary ...

found in the chip, they have to put on a P65 Warning Label on it or have to reduce the levels of acrylamide to the lowest amount possible. But the Old Vienna Chip Company decided to do neither. So they cannot be sold in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. In an interview with Old Vienna Chip Company Office Administrator Elisha Schaffer "We can't change our bags just for one state," "Because our product is not manufactured in California, we do not have that warning on our products, and we will not change our bags to put that warning on there, therefore ... we are not allowed to ship to California."{{Cite web , date=2023-11-03 , title=How a warning label dispute over Red Hot Riplets is keeping the chips off California's shelves , url=https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/verify/red-hot-riplets-banned-in-california/63-bb8899a6-6e50-4511-90c8-0b2546f730e2 , access-date=2024-03-02 , website=ksdk.com , language=en-US

Notes

External links

Old Vienna company website

Cuisine of St. Louis Brand name snack foods