How come chips get softer when they go stale but other things like beef jerky get harder?
In: Biology
The big difference here is starch content. Chips have a lot of starches, which really love binding with moisture. As it sits out, moisture in the air settles on the chips and the starches absorb it. And because chips are fried, all the moisture inside them is already gone, which means reintroducing moisture makes them go all soft. Bread goes hard because it already has almost the maximum amount of moisture inside it, so instead of absorbing more moisture, the starches start to crystallize, making it go hard.
Jerky doesn’t have any starch in it, it’s just dehydrated meat. If it’s been dehydrated correctly and stored and kept in an airtight environment, it’ll never go stale. There’s just nothing there to spoil, unless some bacteria is introduced that causes mold. If it’s not been handled correctly, any remaining moisture will work its way out of the meat, causing it to go hard.
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