Chocolate-covered pretzels, salt-water taffy, cheese and fruit — sweet and salty has always been a tantalizing combination. But McDonald’s, international purveyor of all experiments fast food, has taken the two classic flavors to new heights.
Last month, McDonald’s Japan announced the McChoco Potato — an atrociously named yet surprisingly simple snack — French fries covered with white and milk chocolate.
“Customers will find McChoco Potatoes enjoyable for different occasions, as it also makes for a great dessert,” the news release said.
After checking prices for plane tickets to Japan, I decided Hershey’s chocolate sauce would have to do: I needed to make some McChoco Potatoes of my own.
“The combination creates a wonderful salty and sweet harmonious taste,” the Golden Arches promised me.
But when I slinked into the College Park McDonald’s, unopened bottle of chocolate sauce in tow, the experiment felt less than harmonious.
I ordered the fries and sat down. The bright lights and blaring rap music made the empty restaurant feel like a narc’s house party.
I placed a sauce-drizzled potato in my mouth.
“Yikes,” I thought as Drake’s “Started From The Bottom” mocked me through the speakers. “Is this what it takes to make it as a journalist?”
As the chocolate mush caressed my tongue, I realized just how flavorless French fries are and how surprisingly uneventful the combination was.
Nonetheless, I knew I could not have a conclusive experiment without forcing my creation on other college kids.
Luckily, Jay Rao, a junior civil and environmental engineering major, was excited to participate in groundbreaking journalism.
“It’s pretty good — sweet and salty — it’s a pretty good mix,” he said. “I don’t know if I would choose it, though.”
Sophomore environmental science and policy major Kate Harrison was upfront about her disdain for fries but intrigue of the combination made her take a bite.
“I feel like the mixture itself is kind of good, but after you eat the chocolate and it’s just the French fry remaining … then it doesn’t taste good anymore.”
Two weak nos but I couldn’t stop just yet.
“It tastes more like Hershey’s syrup and then salt in the end. I don’t like it,” said Greg Stinson, a senior electrical engineering major.
Which brings up a notable point: My bottle of Hershey’s freshly purchased from Commons Shop was no match for McDonald’s months of research and special sauces. Was I really giving my subjects the full McChoco Potato experience?
Probably not. But they did have some suggestions for the fast-food chain.
“Maybe if the chocolate were infused in the French fry it would be better,” Harrison said.
“I know they have caramel sauce for the apple dippers, so maybe if they started selling sides of chocolate sauce, you could use it for the apple dippers or apple pie or the fries or something,” Rao added.
Stinson suggested the McFlurry, while one of his friends half-joked that he’d try McNuggets.
As I walked out to Drake’s “Furthest Thing” playing for the second time in my 30-minute visit, I felt confident that McChoco potatoes were a bad idea, but then again, how could I know.
