kidchamp dot net

02.15.08

a few weeks ago, i stumbled upon an old wall street journal article on miracle fruit:

ARLINGTON, Va. -- At a party here one recent Friday, Jacob Grier stood on a chair, pulled out a plastic bag full of small berries, and invited everyone to eat one apiece. "Make sure it coats your tongue," he said.

Mr. Grier's guests were about to go under the influence of miracle fruit, a slightly tart West African berry with a strange property: For about an hour after you eat it, everything sour tastes sweet.

Within minutes of consuming the berries, guests were devouring lime wedges as if they were candy. Straight lemon juice went down like lemonade, and goat cheese tasted as if it was "covered in powdered sugar," said one astonished partygoer. A rich stout beer seemed "like a milkshake," said another.

the snozzberries taste like snozzberries! i was fascinated, so i found an overseas seller; two weeks later, my mysterious package from england is here. the miraculin granules (freeze-dried bits of the berries) look like a handful of especially unlucky gumballs, and the baggie they're in is taped to a random british club flyer, but i'm willing to take a chance for some real-life willy wonka action. the missus and i are having our very own foodiepalooza tomorrow: we've already got a zillion kinds of vinegar, i picked up some meyer lemons, danish blue cheese, and mean little olives, and friends are bringing over things like umeboshi (pickled plums). i feel like i'm forgetting some obvious experimental opportunities, though: what am i missing? what else should we try?