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MALONE - The North Country has its own potato chip now.

Sustain Brands Adirondack started to produce chips in a factory in Malone earlier this year. They buy potatoes from several North Country farmers, including from Tucker Farms in Gabriels.

Their products are available in the Tri-Lakes area at the three Nice 'n' Easy stores, two in Saranac Lake and one in Tupper Lake, and at the Adirondack Corner Store in Lake Placid. They are expanding their distribution, and the chips soon will be available at more local locations, said Sustain Vice President Shawn Glazier, who also runs Glazier Food Service.

"We've gotten nothing but support from all the retailers," Glazier said.

Sustain also makes and sells salsa and ice cream, getting the salsa ingredients from Pray's Farmer's Market near Plattsburgh and the milk for the ice cream from Mercer's Dairy, a co-op owned by nine farm families in the Boonville area. They had been offering these since last year but just started producing the chips earlier this year in their factory in Malone.

The factory has two full-time employees and produces about 300 bags of chips a day. It's a small operation, but one of the advantages, said Sustain President Craig Bilow, is that the potatoes don't have to travel far to get there, reducing the carbon footprint and the costs, both to producer and consumer. Localness also helps ensure the freshness of the product, they said.

"The stuff the Nice 'n' Easys received this morning were literally made Wednesday and Thursday," Glazier said Friday.

Glazier said surveys have shown "a fairly substantial consumer demand for local products," but there has been a dearth of such products that are "shelf stable," or can be kept on the shelf for significant periods without spoiling. Also, reliable distribution has been lacking previously - local food producers have not been able to match the national brands in terms of filling orders and keeping stores stocked.

"We've got to deliver as good as the big guys, but source locally," while also keeping the price comparable, Bilow said.

Both men worked for national food brands before returning to the Malone area five or six years ago. Bilow has a master's degree in marketing, and Glazier gained a lot of marketing experience through his work. Their business allows them to help support local farmers, which is important to both of them.

The chips come in Salt Lick (plain), Salt and Pepper, Hot Wing, Bleu Cheese and Celery, White Cheddar, Salt and Malt Vinegar, and Canton Crunchies flavors. The last was developed for St. Lawrence University and is only available on campus. It is made with red potatoes from Tucker Farms and brown potatoes from Childstock Farm in Malone - red and white, the university's colors.

The chips were received "exceedingly well by the students" when they debuted at the school last month, Bilow said. The idea for the collaboration evolved from conversations with Lettuce Turnip the Beets, a student group that promotes local foods.

It took some experimentation to find the best way to cook the potatoes - different varieties have different moisture contents, sizes and thicknesses, which changes the optimum frying temperature. As it turns out, both Tucker's and Childstock's potatoes have the same cooking requirements - after slicing them 15 to 16 pounds at a time, they're cooked in oil for four minutes at 350 degrees Farenheit.

The potatoes are hand-sorted at several stages in the process, which helps raise the quality of the product, Glazier said. Brown, underdone or bubbly slices are discarded after cooking.

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Contact Nathan Brown at 891-2600 ext. 26 or nbrown@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.