The burgers and nuggets are all well and good, but if we’re honest with ourselves we can generally admit that a McDonald’s trip lives and dies on the dips.
Arranging a bundle of fries to dip into some barbecue sauce is one of life’s simple pleasures, as it tactically biting through a nugget so you can maximise how much sauce you can get on it for the next bite.
You’ll likely have your favourites locked-in already, although your head could easily be turned by the fine selection that’s developed over the years. Gone are the days when it wait either ketchup or barbecue; now you’ve got garlic mayo, Frank’s RedHot Mayo, balsamic dressing, and sweet and sour in the mix too.
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There are questions to be asked how any of them are made, but perhaps the most inscrutable of the lot is the sweet and sour. Flavour-wise, it’s the Dr Pepper of dips in that you can’t every be sure what it actually tastes like. It’s just… sweet and sour.
Thanks to two radio presenters in Melbourne, Australia, we’re closer to knowing the truth of the matter.
Jason Hawkins and Lauren Phillips of Nova 100 were mid-broadcast when they made the discovery, with a video posted to TikTok seeing ‘Jase’ order Phillips to ‘bring in the nuggets’ over the ‘speculation’.
“Have you ever thought about what sweet and sour sauce is actually flavoured?" asked Phillips.
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When Hawkins gives the accompanying sweet and sour dip a taste he remarks that it’s ‘sweet… yet sour’, but that wasn’t the end of the biting analysis.
“Would you believe it is actually apricot flavour?” asked Phillips, to which Hawkins exclaimed: “I hate apricot!
“I can taste the apricot now. It does taste like apricot.”
Hawkins has reportedly been previously dubbed ‘a man among the world’s fussiest eaters’, and continued by saying he would prefer ‘not knowing what they are’ when it comes to the foods he’s eating.
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It turns out he’s not alone on the apricot-hating front.
“Ummm… I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear this,” said one response on TikTok.
“I can now never have sweet and sour sauce again,” agreed another.
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“Sweet and sour sauce is the worst,” declared another.
The revelation wasn’t enough to dissuade everyone, of course.
“Hot mustard and sweet and sour are my fav… and I do sometimes dip in one and then the other,” chimed one resolute dipper. “However, sweet and sour is normally for my fries.
Rachael Davis