The traditional gifts for the 4th anniversary are fruit and flowers, so I decided to give J miracle fruit. Looking like elongated cranberries, these berries coat your tongue with a substance that changes the way things taste for about half an hour. You get a bunch of berries when you order them, so we organized a quick tasting party with a few friends.
We had a full table of food to taste (and J raided the fridge for other flavors at one point) and berries enough for at least 2 per person. To taste:
Lemons
Limes
Onion
Salt & vinegar potato chips
Tabasco
Balsamic vinegar
Bread & butter pickles
Dill pickles
Sour cream
Goat cheese
Blue cheese
Strawberries
Kiwi
Grapes
Cranberries
Raspberries
Pineapple
Watermelon
Guinness
Tequila
(phew!)
The experience was fascinating! Reactions varied across the group. Some things now had no taste (grapes, unanimous), some had subtler flavors. Lemon & lime burnt our lips and the inside of our mouths, but were sweet on our tongues. Strawberries, pineapple, and raspberries had a wave of flavor that was a subtle sweet with more depth than normal.
We had a really good time experimenting and I'm seriously considering exploring miracle fruit as an alternative sweetener (you can find this in the crunchy section of Wegmans).
4 comments:
I WONDERED why a party with all fruit could possibly be interesting! Obviously the fruit makes some of the photos blurry. Is it healthy? Would you make a smoothie with it? Are you sure it isn't just grape tomatoes? (Tomatoes are really a fruit, you know)Could you make a gin & tonic with them? Could I write a cooking column about them? Are there any recipes using them? Where do you get them? And are you able to find mangosteen at Wegman's?? MA
They are quite healthy and not grape tomatoes. They are originally from West Africa. I think they'd be perfect for a column. Heat destroys the chemical that changes the way things taste, so you don't want to cook the berries. Mostly, it's used for tasting parties, as an additive sweetener, and to help cancer patients get rid of metallic aftertastes.
I ordered fresh picked berries thru Amazon, but I believe the tablets (mberry) are on Amazon and in stores in a small handful of towns (inc S Burlington and Jeffersonville, VT).
The only mangosteen at Wegs is juiced.
I saw them on the today show and thought they were very cool. What a great party idea! It looks like a blast. I might have to have one of these.
I highly recommend fresh berries from Ethan's Garden via Amazon. He's awesome to work with and the berries were great!
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