{"id":226139,"date":"2026-06-23T20:33:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T20:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/226139\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T20:33:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T20:33:22","slug":"our-chip-champion-for-herrs-flavored-by-philly-taste-of-250-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/226139\/","title":{"rendered":"Our chip champion for Herr\u2019s \u2018Flavored by Philly: Taste of 250\u2019 competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This month Herr\u2019s<\/a> released its winning lineup for its fifth annual \u201cFlavored by Philly\u201d competition with three flavors celebrating America 250<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Freedom Loaded Cheese Fries<\/p>\n

Liberty Hickory Barbecue<\/p>\n

United Jalape\u00f1o Cream Cheese<\/p>\n

\"\"Herr\u2019s 2026 \u201cFlavored by Philly\u201d chips for testing. (Julia Binswanger\/ Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

While previous winners have included out-there flavors like \u201cSpecial Hot Stromboli,\u201d this year, the Pa. company went back to basics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean how cool is it that Philadelphia has been the birthplace of America for 250 years, and we\u2019re part of it. Our family business is part of it. We\u2019ve been here for 80 years and this is what our company does,\u201d Ed Herr, executive chairman of Herr\u2019s, told BP. \u201cWho wouldn\u2019t want to be in the business of fun?\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of picking one flavor to reign supreme, all three chips are sharing the spotlight as the nation prepares to bask in a special anniversary celebration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At least, Herr\u2019s isn\u2019t choosing just one winner. We at Billy Penn, however, have no qualms crowing an ultimate chip champion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We polled both the WHYY office and our Instagram followers to determine if freedom, liberty or unity has the best taste.<\/p>\n

WHYY\u2019s favorite chip is\u2026<\/p>\n

Taking home the bronze medal in third place was Liberty Hickory Barbeque. Although not the favorite, almost everyone who tried this chip enjoyed it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hickory barbecue is almost perfect,\u201d one employee noted. \u201cI don\u2019t like barbecue chips, but I like this chip,\u201d was a sentiment we heard a lot. This chip also aligned well with the U.S. theme, however many in the office felt the chip was not original enough to put in the number one spot.<\/p>\n

\"\"WHYY employees test out the three chip flavors. (Julia Binswanger\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

In second place came United Jalape\u00f1o Cream Cheese. These were perhaps the most polarizing chips in our survey \u2014 with a few comparing it to a \u201cspicy sour cream and onion.\u201d While some loved the jalape\u00f1o kick, others thought the spice was too much for the palate or that they couldn\u2019t taste the spice at all. Still, those who liked it were all in.<\/p>\n

And now, drumroll please!<\/p>\n

The official office favorite for Herr\u2019s \u201cFlavored by Philly: Taste of 250\u201d is Freedom Loaded Cheese Fries!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our respondents called the chip \u201cdelicious and satisfying,\u201d praised its \u201cgeneral umami flavor\u201d and said it was a chip they \u201ccould eat regularly.\u201d<\/p>\n

They enjoyed the chip\u2019s balance of bacony notes and overall cheesy goodness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fry, it tied in perfectly with the whole freedom thing,\u201d said Pete Graziano, Herr\u2019s director of research and development. \u201cWe\u2019re free to load our fries up with all these great fixins and cheeses and bacon and onion and all these wonderful flavors, so we got to balance those out.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also noted that the fry flavor was easy to pull off \u2014 given that chips are also made from fried potatoes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our Instagram poll had the same outcome as the office, with 22% weighing in for Liberty Hickory Barbecue, 30% opting in for United Jalapeno Cream Cheese and 48% voting for Freedom Loaded Cheese Fries.<\/p>\n

Tasting 250<\/p>\n

Overall, many chip testers enjoyed the variety of flavors that Herr\u2019s brought to the table for 2026.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

While some missed the novelty of a chip based off of a unique Philly treat \u2014 like one inspired by a deli sandwich, others in our office were relieved that the chips skewed more traditional, noting the \u201cstrong selection of delicious flavor profiles this year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Ed Herr, executive chairman of Herr\u2019s shows off the three new \u201cFlavored by Philly: Taste of 250\u201d flavors at the feet of the Rocky statue. (Nick Kariuki\/ Billy Penn) <\/p>\n

As for the chip\u2019s correlation to America\u2019s big birthday?\u00a0<\/p>\n

One person noted the freedom, liberty and unity flavors took their mind off of political woes for a moment. Another wished the theme could have been stronger. Maybe this year could have had a \u201cPersistence Green Algae\u201d flavor inspired by the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool.<\/p>\n

\u201cWasn\u2019t really thinking about their thematic relationship to the semiquincentennial\u201d someone said. \u201cBut sure, whatever. Go America.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today. This month…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4000,98146,29736,98147,1515,20639,19381,69,71,70,9348,98148],"class_list":["post-226139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america-250","tag-chip-champion","tag-chips","tag-flavored-by-philly","tag-food","tag-herrs","tag-herrs-chips","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-potato-chips","tag-taste-of-250"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}