6 Facts You Might Not Know About McDonald’s French Fries
Updated: Jul. 29, 2021
There’s actually a lot that goes into making those crispy, golden, delicious fries.
They’re real potatoes
Yes, it might be a shocker but McDonald’s French fries are actually made with real potatoes. Check out these mindblowing facts about McDonald’s.
They’re cut with a knife
Some people believe that the perfectly straight fries are made using molds and fake potato goop. But since the fries are made with real potatoes, they are cut with a real knife. After the potatoes are skinned and washed, they are shot through a series of blades that cut them into French fries. The fries actually move through the machine at 60 to 70 miles per hour!
There is a reason they look just like the commercials
Have you ever noticed how all the fries are the same color and look particularly fresh for having been stored in the freezer for who knows how long? You can thank chemicals for that. After the fries are cut, they get covered in sugar so they are all the same color. Then, they’re coated in sodium acid pyrophosphate to keep them from turning gray when frozen. These are the McDonald’s secret menu items you never knew about.
They’re flash frozen before they get to the store
Before being packaged up, the fries are partially cooked and flash frozen. Then they’re sent out to McDonald’s around the country.
They have 19 ingredients
Well, technically there are only 14 ingredients because some are listed twice because they’re used in two different stages of production. Some of the ingredients include potatoes, canola oil, soybean oil, natural beef flavor, hydrolyzed milk, and citric acid.
The secret ingredient that makes them so addictive
The real reason you can’t help but pull over to grab fries every time you see the golden arches: A special beef flavor. Yep, you read that right. In the 1950s, the company that gave McDonald’s vegetable oil couldn’t afford the equipment needed to hydrogenate the oil, which would extend its shelf life. So, they gave them a mixture of oil and beef fat instead. In the 1980s they took the ingredient out due to it being high in saturated fat but they still wanted the delicious beefy flavor that came along with it. Now, they add “natural beef flavor” to their vegetable oil. Next, read about the secrets McDonald’s employees won’t tell you.
