Fruit Tree of the Day: Miracle Fruit
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This fruit is very true to its name. It tastes kind of meh itself, but it makes everything else taste different, for about 30 minutes after eating it. It temporarily changes the shape of your taste buds and makes bitter and sour taste sweet. I’ve had some, and can confirm it makes lemons taste like lemonade, grapefruit juice actually drinkable, and starfruit the sweetest candy. Seriously, I could barely finish half a starfruit because it tasted so sweet and heavenly. That’s another point for starfruit! Basically, this hides all the annoying flavors and lets you see what your favorite food would be like without them. Supposedly, it makes Tabasco sauce taste like doughnut glaze, but I haven’t confirmed that one. I suppose coffee would taste delicious black, too.
I should also point out that it won’t actually change how the acids effect your throat or stomach, just how it tastes. So don’t go wild drinking tons of straight lemon juice or you’ll have stomach pains. Normally, you’ll get sick of the flavor of acidic things when you’ve had too much, but if you can’t taste the acid, your body doesn’t know you’ve had too much until it’s too late.
To grow this tree in the ground, you have to be in southern Florida, or near the coast (zone 10a or higher). But, this is really more like a bush, and will be perfectly happy in a pot so you can just bring it inside when the temperature dips below 40. A few other tips for growing it: Don’t use water from the hose, as it doesn’t like the chlorine and other chemicals we add to city water. It also needs liquid fertilizer and acidic soil.
It’s hard to get ahold of fresh fruit, but with this fruit, dried and powdered works just as well. You can order some on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Prominent-Nutrition-7-Keto-Vegetarian-Capsules/dp/B01L1EP5VM/ Or just search for miracle fruit or miraculin tablets. You may be able to find some at a health food store.
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Yep. The tablets work very well, although they do lose their potency if you leave them too long (like a year). Lots of fun eating lemons that taste like 7-Up!
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I’d love to try the actual berries some day!
I’ve never seen this at a local nursery. I’m technically zone 10a/9b depending on what chart you look at.
I keep wanting to try this but I never order any berries.
@RiotDemon You may have to go to a nursery that specializes in fruit trees (the same goes for all of these, really). There’s several around Florida: Jene’s Tropicals, if you’re in St. Pete, Excalibur, if you’re in Miami, and ECHO in Fort Myers. Or you could Google Maps fruit tree nurseries or something like that and I’m sure you’ll find one close to you. They’re everywhere around here.
@Weboh I probably just didn’t look, honestly.
There’s a nursery less than two miles from me that says they carry it.
Hmm, says they carry the sugar apple/sweetsop as well.
@RiotDemon
Send some to me, I wanna try them.
I’ve had the tablets, they were great fun. I did not realize they were actual berries, though. Neat.
I’ve never heard of it before, definitely pretty neat! I couldn’t grow it here in zone 6, i’ll have to see if my dads wanting to give it a try down your way in Florida. He’s never been much of a gardener but he’s slowing down these days and isn’t able to make it through 9 holes of golf most days, nevermind the 18 he’d been doing daily!![:disappointed_relieved:](https://dj5zo597wtsux.cloudfront.net/emojione/assets/3.1/png/64/1f625.png)
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Maybe it’s time for a new hobby? Watching fruit and veggies grow has gotta be around the same speed as a round of golf!!
Love Ya dad!!!![:heart_eyes:](https://dj5zo597wtsux.cloudfront.net/emojione/assets/3.1/png/64/1f60d.png)
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I was reading about this a while ago but couldn’t remember the name.
So have they researched this for a new kind of sugar substitute? Or is it already used for one? I detest most of the existing ones like Splenda, etc.
@Kyeh Oh, yeah - I guess they have:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/05/can-miraculin-solve-the-global-obesity-epidemic/371657/
Makes the most bitter beer taste syrupy and cloyingly sweet.
Sour apples become sweeter than you’d ever want to eat.
Its a fun party trick to do with friends or family - especially kids. Take a pill (or a 1/2 of one) without telling those you want to mess with and slice up a bunch or lemons - then watch their faces as you take bites without puckering - then reveal the secret and let them all try.
Ok I caved and bought the tablets…
Psychedelics for your tongue!