Say hello to this weird little bugger.
This is a west African berry with the ability to re-mix your taste buds like a mash up at a nightclub! It has the ability to change acidic foods to sweet - (sour, hot, etc.). In NY city, flavor tasting parties have become mildly popular where people pop some of these culinary chameleons and then down pickles, lemons, hot sauce, or all of the above at once! Any kind of sour/tart/acidic foods are changed to unusual sweet flavor combinations.
The fruit has something called "Miraculin" in it. (Real inventive scientific name huh?) Miraculin is a Glycoprotein that has no flavor in and of itself, but will alter your perception of flavor for up to an hour.
An article in the New York Times quoted tasters opinions as thus:
"limes were candied, vinegar resembled apple juice, goat cheese tasted like cheesecake on the tongue and goat cheese on the throat. Bananas were just bananas."
The berries are available to order over the Internet, but they are very expensive and perish quickly. They sell for about $2 or more a piece, and a freezer pack box of 30 is about $90 mailed overnight to your door.
Before you throw in the towel on "flavor tripping" parties being out of your price range, there are several companies that manufacture the berries in tablet form now and it is much less expensive.
I may have to spring for a box and let you know what it's like. The only question is, what food to try first? Maybe a bottle of Guiness with a Tabasco chaser? What, you don't think chocolate truffles and strawberry jam go together?
Reverend Rick
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