What Makes McDonald's Nether Flame Sauce So Spicy?

McDonald's is teaming up with the sandbox adventure game "Minecraft," leading up to the debut of the prominent franchise's appearance on the silver screen, "A Minecraft Movie," in a way that lets everyone feel like a kid again. The Golden Arches is offering customers young and old a chance to indulge in A Minecraft Movie Meal — an adult-sized Happy Meal with a choice between a Big Mac and a 10-piece portion of Chicken McNuggets. Accompanying the chicken nugget meal is a limited-edition Nether Flame sauce that is packing some serious heat.

According to the list of ingredients that make up McDonald's newest creation, the source of the fieriness is chili peppers and cayenne red peppers. On the Scoville scale, cayenne peppers range from 30,000 to 50,000 Scoville Heat Units. That is nothing close to the heat the hottest pepper in the world brings, but it is a far cry from a comparatively mild jalapeño. To balance out that intensity, apricot concentrate is blended into the mix for a bit of sweetness. McDonald's may not have invented the iconic chicken nugget, but it gained fans for its flavorful sauce accompaniments, and the new spicy Nether Flame sauce continues that tradition.

The adult-sized Happy Meals will only be around for a limited time, so folks who want to try the Nether Flame sauce will have to act fast. As an extra incentive to get your hands on the new flaming sauce, each meal comes with one of six "Minecraft"-inspired collectible figurines. It wouldn't really be a Happy Meal without finding a toy in the box, right? If you are a "Minecraft" superfan and want to collect them fast, order an extra meal and reheat the chicken nuggets in the oven for a straight out-of-the-box taste.

Folks who opt to order through the McDonald's app get even more swag coming their way. "Minecraft" players who get one of the new limited-time meals (with or without the fiery sauce) will be gifted a code they can redeem in-game to access a McDonald's Add-On pack featuring characters and tools inspired by the Golden Arches. If you play the game, it would be worth using the app to place your order to get ahold of the bonus perk, but if you don't, you may still want to throw a trip to McDonald's on your to-do list to try out the spicy Nether Flame sauce before it's gone. Think about it – how often do you get to order a Happy Meal without feeling like an oddball?