I read about this stuff a while back, but finally picked up some (extract of it, actually). Weird, wild, fascinating shit. Miracle fruit.

Basically, you chew it up so it covers your tongue for a while, then for the next half hour to and hour or so, everything that was previously sour is now sweet!

Suz and I cut up a bunch of different fruit to try in this state. Of course, limes and lemons are the stars since their flavor is such a contrast from their initial state. Basically, they taste like super-sweet candy. Really!

Here’s a rundown of the things we tried and our impressions:

Lime – Like candy.

Lemon – Super sweet, but you can still feel the twinge of the acid sour on your tongue (with only the sweet flavor).

Grapefruit – Not much different. The main flavor component is bitterness, not sour, which was unchanged by the miracle fruit.

Kiwi – I thought much better tasting due to the sweetness, but it wasn’t overly sweet or cloying.

Orange – Very sweet, but a strange flavor difference I couldn’t put my finger on.

Tomato – I thought they tasted exactly the same, but Susanna said they were like super-sweet tomatoes. It may be, however, just good tomatoes (they were freshly picked, ripe from our garden).

Granny Smith Apple – Much sweeter, although the flavor change was not as extreme as I expected. Just tasted like a firm, sweet, apple.

Wine – Super sugary (and pretty much awful).

Red Wine Vinegar – Super sweet, like sugar water.

Balsamic Vinegar – Ditto, just a different flavor of sugar water.

Cherry – Not much different, just no sour note to it.

Cantaloupe – Basically the same, perhaps mildly sweeter.

Altoids – Exactly the same.

I regret not getting pineapple for our first session; it’s supposed to be excellent and definitely something I want to try next time.

We were left slightly queasy after the experience. I’m not sure if it was a side effect of the miracle fruit itself, or a side effect of so much sour fruit in our stomachs (how often do you EAT a bunch of lime slices?).

Definitely a fun experience. So far none of the people we’ve told about this have wanted to try it, though!