Corropolese’s tomato pie is the winning flavor in Herr’s chip contest

There’s a winner in Herr’s Flavored by Philly contest, and if you act now, you may be able to sample it.

The tomato pie-flavored chips inspired by Corropolese Italian Bakery’s signature product — a blast of tomatoes with whiffs of sweetness and garlic — outpolled the Korean barbecue-inspired chips based on Mike’s BBQ’s wing recipe and the roast pork chips reflecting the flavor of John’s Roast Pork.

The three finalists, submitted by fans, were announced in June. More than 17,600 votes were recorded.

A Herr’s representative said there were no current plans to reissue the winning chips, but there are some bags still out there in local stores.

Corropolese gets a $10,000 fund for its win, and David Gilmartin of Royersford, a longtime bakery customer, will get a $5,000 finder’s fee. As the runners-up, Mike’s and John’s will receive $2,500 each, while their nominators will be awarded $1,000.

In last year’s contest, Herr’s went in-house to create three Philly-centric flavors, and “Long Hots with Sharp Provolone” beat out “Special Sauce” and “Wiz Wit.”

Herr’s chairman and chief executive Ed Herr said the company cast a wider net this year because “we love being a local family business and we love the idea of working with other local family businesses.”

Herr’s said the tomato pie prevailed because “I think that consumers like the flavor combination of tomato and potato,” he said. “There’s something about it.” He said potato-based and bread-based products have similar qualities.

Ask for a “tomato pie” around the country, and you may get a layer of sliced tomatoes swiped from the sub counter atop a red-sauced pizza dough.

In Trenton and central New Jersey, you’ll get a thin-crust upside-down pizza, with cheese baked directly atop the bottom crust and sauce spread on top.

» READ MORE: The search for the perfect tomato pie

Around here — particularly in South Philadelphia and a swath of the region running mainly from Manayunk to Norristown, as well as in Utica, N.Y. — tomato pie is an entirely different thing.

It started out a century ago in Italian American bakeries, which make them in large rectangular or square sheet pans, like focaccia.

Some have raised crusts; others are flat. The tomato sauce typically is thick and slightly oily, just a notch thinner than tomato paste. Some shops dust the finished tops with just a rumor of grated parmesan and / or romano, almost as decoration. Others avoid cheese entirely, a boon to vegans.

Ed Herr’s father, James Stauffer Herr, was 21 and working on his father’s chicken farm when he read in a newspaper that a Lancaster potato chip company was for sale. In 1946, he paid $1,750 for it, and began making chips and selling them door to door in tins. (He died in 2012 at 87, on the 65th anniversary of his marriage to his wife, Miriam.)

The company now makes over 300 different products at its factory in Nottingham, Chester County.

» READ MORE: Take a factory tour of Herr's

Asked what flavors would not make a tasty chip, Ed Herr was stumped. People have submitted such ideas as cannoli, doughnut, pierogi, and tacos. “Potatoes are such a neutral base. It’s hard to find flavors that don’t taste good on potato chips,” Herr said. “Truffle oil, mustard, just about any condiment works.”

Joe Corropolese, the fourth generation, is a son of Guilio “Butch” Corropolese, whose father, an immigrant from Naples named Joe, founded the bakery in Norristown in 1924.

Since the mid-1980s, Corropolese’s home base has been in East Norriton, which has a well-stocked deli. You can find the tomato pies in some supermarkets, but it’s best to go to one of the Corropolese locations (Limerick, Audubon, or East Norriton).

The Corropoleses say it “CORE-po-lease.” Click here to hear Joe Corropolese say it.