Last weekend, I invited a few friends over. Waiting for each of them was a little mysterious tablet, which they were instructed to dissolve on their tongues. And that’s when things got a little crazy.
Don’t worry though – it was all perfectly legal, and safe. The tablets were freeze-dried Miraculin, which is made from the Miracle Fruit berry. You may have read about it in the New York Times a couple of months ago, or subsequently on a bunch of food blogs. The fruit, or powdered/tablet form, essentially dulls the sour taste bud receptors, making tangy things taste sweet. Or that’s what people claim, anyway.
In the Times article, attendees of taste-tripping or flavor-tripping parties (that’s what the kids are calling them) said Guinness beer tasted like a chocolate shake, lemons and limes like candy, goat cheese like cheesecake and Tabasco sauce like “hot donut glaze.”
I was determined to find out for myself, so I set out to find this elusive Miracle Fruit. Unfortunately for me, thousands (millions?) of other people read that same article and had the exact same thought. The few fresh berry suppliers I found were predicting delays for many months, exactly how many, no one could say. I finally tracked down an online supplier of the freeze-dried tablet form in the U.K. that promised shipment in a matter of weeks. Afraid I might never see my order or my money back, I ordered the smallest amount they offered (10) and hoped for the best. Less than two months later, a tiny packet of tablets arrived. The party was on.
I asked my guests to bring something they’d like to taste under the Miracle Fruit influence, and we compiled quite a spread. In the produce department, we had lemons, limes, grapefruit, oranges, strawberries, apples, grapes, blueberries, cranberries, cherry tomatoes, hot peppers and green olives. There was a wide cheese selection, too, including goat, feta, aged blue and several specialty varieties I picked up at a cheese yard sale that morning (more on that later).
The sauce bar featured two kinds of hot sauce, pomegranate molasses, soy sauce and four varieties of vinegar: balsamic, red wine, apple cider and orange champagne muscat. In the beverage department, we had Guinness, Goose Island IPA, tequila and lemonade.
When it was time for the tasting to begin, we each popped a tablet onto our tongue and followed the instructions to let it dissolve there and swish it around our mouths. It took about two minutes – a very quiet two minutes. And then we dove in.
Interestingly, everyone seemed to taste things a little differently. Goat cheese really did taste like frosting to some, while to others it tasted pretty much like goat cheese. Guinness was definitely chocolate milk shake-esque for others (me), but not for all. One person described vinegar as “sugar water,” but to me, it tasted just a little sweeter. What pretty much everyone agreed on was that lemons and limes tasted like candy. That’s was overwhelmingly the most dramatic shift.
Overall, the effects weren’t quite as dramatic as I had expected, but they were definitely noticeable and intriguing. I was a big fan of the cranberries. I think some people had never eaten a raw, unsweetened cranberry, so they didn’t know what to compare it to. But if you’ve ever tasted one, you know it would be pretty remarkable for them to taste like cranberry candy. To me, they did. I thought the tequila tasted like tequila-flavored juice, with no edge, so I was careful to not drink it as such. Danger!
Hot stuff however, still tasted hot. Honestly, if Tabasco tastes like hot donut glaze, I think you may be tripping on something else.
After much discussion, we seemed to agree that despite a few extreme flavor shifts, the Miracle Fruit tablets mainly took the bite/edge/stinkiness (all words used) out of most things, allowing you to taste more complexity in the flavors, or in some cases, just a slightly different flavor.
Despite the effects being a little less dramatic than I’d expected, I’m so glad we tried it. It was so much fun, and I definitely recommend it.
Oh, and one more thing. There’s another must-have item if you’re throwing a taste-tripping party and spending the better part of an hour eating citrus, cheese, hot sauce, vinegar and tequila. Seriously:
3 Comments
July 30, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Neat! I’m jealous. I’ve been meaning to do this for some time, but my friends and I can’t get our act together to pick a date. Soon, soon.
What would you say to an early September picnic?
Gemma
July 30, 2008 at 7:52 pm
This is too funny! It’s like a drug (”under the miracle fruit influence”). Where did you find the miracle fruit? I’m in Chicago too!
December 5, 2008 at 5:37 am
Do you think the real berries would have a greater affect? I am going to a flavor tripping party in Cleveland on Monday that will have the real berries.