Some McDonald’s fans have soured on a popular dip.
Add Sweet ’N Sour Sauce to the list of foods some people shun after knowing how it’s made since they learned the main ingredient is apricot.
While not new knowledge per se, this culinary bombshell blew up not long after the Golden Arches announced it was bringing two brand new sauces — Sweet & Spicy Jam and McDonald’s Mambo Sauce — to its restaurants.
The food factoid emerged via a TikTok clip from the Australian podcast “Jase & Lauren” last month, during which Lauren Philips watches co-host Jason Hawkins devour a basket of McNuggets with the chain’s signature tart and tangy condiment — his alleged “favorite food.”
“Have you ever thought about what Sweet ’N Sour Sauce is actually flavored?” she asks as Hawkins dunks his nuggets in the puckery brown dip.
Then, after somewhat cruelly waiting for her coworker to take a bite, she reveals: “Would you believe it is actually … apricot flavor?”
As the not-so-sweet realization dawns on him, Hawkins grimaces and proclaims: “I hate apricot. I can taste the apricot now.”
He then tosses the half-munched chicken chunk aside, seemingly exasperated that he’s been culinarily catfished.
According to the McDonald’s website, “Sweet ’N Sour sauce recipe blends flavors of apricot and peach with savory spices and leaves a slight lingering heat.”
Other ingredients include “high fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, modified food starch, dextrose, xanthan gum, sodium Benzoate (preservative), cellulose gum, dried chili peppers, caramel color, extractives of paprika (color).”
Many TikTok commenters were similarly soured on the condiment after learning of its main ingredient.
“You have now ruined my favorite McDonald’s sauce,” lamented one disillusioned viewer, while another wrote, “Ummm…I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear this.”
However, others shamed Hawkins for shunning something after formerly “lovin’ it.”
“Anyone who hates something they previously loved only after learning what’s in it make[s] me so mad,” griped one viewer. “Nothing has changed bro keep liking it.”
In terms of alleged McDonald’s bombshells, the apricot reveal doesn’t hold a candle to the recent “fossilized” cheeseburger, a Golden Arches nosh that appeared perfectly preserved despite being left in a car trunk for years.