Miracle Fruit

When Sam and I were exploring downtown, we came across a large bush with red berries on it. We were intrigued, having never seen them before. She picked on, crushed it on the ground, and we peered at its insides. It was white, almost frothy, like milk. Afterward, I did some research on the interwebs and decided the little thing was miracle fruit, though as it turns out, I was wrong. Imagine my surprise when I get a call on Friday from her telling me I had plans on Saturday! She had gotten a shipment of them, and was having a food tasting party.

Apparently, miracle fruit is very rare. From what we have gathered, this is in large part due to its limited survival after being picked. The fruit arrived on dry ice, with instructions to move it immediately to the freezer. We had to eat it within 15-30 minutes of taking it out of the freezer. We were promised that after eating one, all foods would taste sweeter for 30 mins - 2 hours.

So the 11 or so of us each got one berry. We put it in our mouths and swished it around for a few minutes, attempting to get the fruity flesh off the seed without actually eating the seed. I'm told it tastes gross. The fruit itself did not have much taste.

Then, we each took a lemon or lime and bit into it. They tasted like VERY sweet lemonade! It was amazing. It was funny watching everyone, because we were all nervous. I'm not sure any of us really believed it would actually work. I mean, it sounds like such a scam. There was a lot of hesitation biting into that first lemon.

Once that first bite was out of the way though, we dug in. We ate everything with reckless abandon. Radishes, beer, black coffee, garlic, olives, pickles, cheese, baker's chocolate, bread, raspberries, Worcestershire sauce, sour candy... everyone brought something. And when we had tried all of those things, we ravaged Sam's kitchen. It was bizarre. Some things were sweet, almost too sweet. The raspberries were nice, because the tartness was completely gone. I enjoyed eating the radishes. They have a nice crunch to them, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy the taste otherwise. Pickles just tasted like sweet pickles, which I hate. Bleh. Baker's chocolate was still unappealing. Coffee tasted like water.

Eventually, around an hour later, the miracle wore off. The rest of the evening was spent chatting, which was great for DS and I, since we met some new friends. All in all, it was a great day. If you ever have a chance to try one of these things, I highly recommend it. You won't believe your taste buds :)