Miracle Fruit

Imagine going to a party where stout beers taste like chocolate milkshakes, Tabasco sauce resembles something like hot doughnut glaze, and Brussels sprouts melt in your mouth like candy. It may sound like a gathering conceived by Willy Wonka, but “Flavor-tripping” parties are gaining popularity throughout New York and San Francisco thanks to a small berry known simply as “miracle fruit.”

The cranberry-sized fruit rewires the way our tongues perceive flavors, numbing sour and bitter receptors for around an hour. The New York Times reports that “the cause of the reaction is a protein called miraculin, which binds with the taste buds and acts as a sweetness inducer when it comes in contact with acids.” The result is that everything sour now tastes sweet.

Franz Aliquo, a New York Lawyer, throws flavor tripping parties at his apartment once a month. Guests pay $15 for one berry and a cornucopia of citrus, cheeses and beers that now taste less like appetizers and more like your favorite candy shop assortments. Specialty food stores in New York City have begun to sell the fruit, mainly to chefs. You can order them online from Curtis Mozie, the Miracle Fruit Man.

(Photo by Robyn Lee)