After having giving up sugar for Lent, I was so excited to recently
have the chance to experience the world of "flavor tripping"! What
exactly is it you ask?
Synsepalum dulcificum is a plant that produces small red berries,
known as "miracle berry" or "miracle fruit" (pictured above on the far
bottom). These berries, when consumed, causes sour foods to taste sweet,
but also plays an effect on bitter foods as well. The fruit contains a
molecule called miraculin which binds to the taste buds of the tongue,
changing the perceived perception of sour flavors. The exact mechanism
is unknown, but it's been used for centuries in Africa and ALMOST become
an all natural sweetener alternative in the U.S.
In
1970's, Robert Harvey came across this plant when in New England and
thought he had finally discovered a safe, natural plant sugar
alternative as opposed to the chemical artificial sweeteners. It
received many positive responses from diabetics and dieters alike after
clinical trials. He and his colleagues were able to extract the main
ingredient in order to make it a marketable item, and the FDA cleared
this product for use. In 1973, his office was broken into and files
stolen, clearly a case of industrial espionage. Then in 1974, right
before product launch, the FDA came in and retracted their clearance,
stating the berry was an additive, which classified it like any
artificial sugar, meaning it would have to go through years of testing
for safety and efficiency. Funny, cuz later the same year, the FDA
approved aspartame. ASPARTAME. The same artificial crap shown to cause
cancer in rats. HMM. Shows you how little the FDA cares about us and how
much money goes in their pockets. Did I say that out loud? Oops.
Anyways! Enough of the history lesson. So how does one acquire these
berries? FYI...these are totally legal in case you were wondering. You
can get them off numerous sites, but my friend got them here:
http://www.mberry.us.
You can purchase the fresh berries, which have a very short shelf life
of 2-3 days. You can always opt for the tablet form too which lasts 12
months from manufacture date. The tabs off this site you can split in
half and have enough for 2 flavor trips. The berries are a novelty item I
think. You have to buy the berries/tabs in bulk, at least 10-15. Which
is why many people throw flavor tripping parties. The more the merrier!
I
had a berry, and in order to get the full effects, you want to place
the berry in your mouth. The skin will easily come off and you want to
move the pulp of the berry around your tongue getting every inch of
taste buds covered. Don't forget the bottom! You got a few taste buds
there too. Give it a few minutes till all the pulp is gone, and spit out
the seed. Eating the skin is optional (all the active ingredient is in
the pulp anyways). I got a tablet as a take home, and pretty much you
just want to halve it and rub it all over your tongue till it dissolves.
Easy right? Now the fun part!
What kinda foods do you wanna
try? Sour citrus fruits for sure. Anything with a sour tang will taste
sweet. Be sure you have these prepared in advance. A usual flavor trip
lasts anywhere from 15-60 minutes. Mine was only 15. I feel totally
gypped. But here are the foods (with my personal experiences) that I got
to shove my face with in those sweet 15 minutes:
- Lemons: by far my FAVORITE item. These tasted like candy and I ate them by the handful. My stomach hated me. So much.
- Limes: surprisingly not the same effect as the lemons. Tasted ok.
- Grapefruit: tasted deliciously sweet.
- Strawberries: like they were sugar coated
- Pineapple: ridiculously sweet
- Worcestershire sauce: sweet and smokey (strawberries + Worcestershire sauce = yummy)
- Apple cider vinegar: tasted like just cider
- Sour cream chips: sour taste gone, tasted like regular chips
- Jalapeno chips: tasted slightly sweet and spicy
- Tabasco: tasted like sweet and sour with a kick
- Goat cheese: suppose to taste like cheesecake/frosting...tasted like just goat cheese (I think the effects wore off by now)
- Guinness stout beer: suppose to cancel out
bitterness and taste like chocolate milk...tasted like Guinness (which
is still good to me! but bummer!!)
I'd highly recommend grazing on crackers/bread or take some Pepto
Bismo to coat the stomach to offset all the acids you'll be ingesting.
My tummy was HURT-IN!
...
Oh in case this isn't enough flavor tripping for you, try the REVERSE trip.
Gymnema sylvestre
is an herb that reduces the sweetness of foods. My friends call it the
"sugar destroyer". You can get it at health food stores or vitamin
shops. It's sold in capsules and is normally used to help diabetics.
When swallowed whole, the
gymnemic acid binds to your
stomach walls, preventing consumed sugar from being absorbed into your
system and is simply passed out. BUT, when you open the capsule, spread
that powder all over your tongue (tastes pretty nasty btw...almost like
dried grass), the gymnemic acid blocks the sweet receptors on your
tongue. This caused all sugars to not taste sweet anymore. This trip
lasted 15-30 minutes on average. Brown sugar tasted like sand in my
mouth. The strawberry tasted unripened. Cookie wasn't sweet, but I could
still make out the butter and salts. Pretty much, life became very sad!
What
was a bit peculiar is when I tried a bit of Smucker's jam, which
contained high-fructose corn syrup. THAT definitely still tasted sweet.
Which is a bit disturbing at how highly manufactured it is to taste that
way.
FUN FACT: My friend tried the sugar
destroyer first, confirmed that his sweet receptors were blocked by
eating some sugar, then immediately tried the miracle berry. Although
unable to taste sugar the second time (due to sweet receptors blocked),
was able to taste the sweetness of the strawberry (due to the sourness
being perceived as sweet). Therefore we can somewhat conclude that the
sugar destroyer blocks sweet receptors, while the miracle berry turns
sour receptors into thinking sour is sweet. But of course more data
needs to be collected before we can confirm.
Flavor tripping, anyone??
