We all know that McDonald's isn't the best food choice when it comes to our health and nutritional needs, but there is something so addictive and tasty about their french fries.
Arguably the best item on its menu, McDonald's is finally giving away the secret of how it makes its famous fries and what's exactly in them.
Grant Imahara from the show Mythbusters was given access to McDonald's french fry processing plant in Idaho to take a first-hand look at how the mouthwatering delicious side is made. In a video, the latest in the fast food chain's series called "Our food, Your questions," Imahara reverse engineers the process of making the french fry.
While Imahara starts the process from the last step to the first, the fries begin their journey by being peeled and cut. He found that McDonald's fries are actually made with real potatoes. What's more is that they are actually non-GMO potatoes that include different russet varieties. The potatoes are immersed in hot water to remove excess sugars and then blanched to prevent spoilage.
While the fries comes from real potatoes, they also contain lots of other ingredients— 19 in all, including petrol-based tertiary butylhydroquinone and dimethylpolysiloxane, which is a silicone used in silly putty.
The cut fries are then dipped in an "ingredient bath," probably the worst step. The bath contains dextrose, a natural form of sugar that gives the fries the golden color, and sodium acid pyrophosphate, which prevents it from changing color after cooking. McDonald's says these two ingredients are not health concerns.
The fries are then dried and fried quickly to give them that crispy exterior. They add a mix of canola, soybean and hydrogenated soybean oils as well as beef flavoring from beef fat. So sorry vegetarians, you can no longer indulge.
The fries are then flash frozen and shipped to chains where they are then cooked in more oils and sprinkled with salt. It's in the last frying phase where TBHQ and dimethylpolsiloxane join the long list of chemicals.
In its finished form, McDonald's french fries have 510 calories, 6 grams of protein, 24 grams of fat, 67 grams of carbohydrate and 290 milligrams of sodium.
Watch the process of how McDonald's french fries are made below.
[Photo Credit: Katy Warner/Flickr]
