After reading a New York Times article about flavor tripping, we wanted to try it out the palate-altering “miracle berry” that turns sour and spicy flavors sweet. Luckily for us, a friend had some flavor tripping tablets and was hosting a flavor tripping party.
At his house, we were “taste tripping” while eating an impressive spread of fruits, cheeses, and beers in a fun altered state where most foods tasted much different than normal! We sampled so many different interesting flavors, and now a guest post from our flavor tripping party host, fellow food lover, Vicente Gonzales, AKA “V”.
Taste tripping pill test
Last year, a coworker told me about Miraculin. He told me about a legal pill that you dissolve on your tongue that changes the way food tastes. He said he couldn’t wait to throw a flavoring tripping party. I was hooked – I researched everything I could find about Miraculin, a taste-modifying agent. Turns out it shows up naturally in an African berry called the miracle berry, flavor berry, or the wonder fruit. The berries last for only 3 days after being picked so it’s a bit impractical to use the real fruit unless you are throwing a big party and delivery works out perfectly (see links below to buy them on Amazon).
The next best thing are the cheaper flavor tripping tablets. Made from flavor berries, the effect of the tablet lasts longer than a berry and has a year long shelf life. For my initial experience, I tried out a tablet on my own because I wanted to make sure it even worked before inviting a bunch of people over to try it.
First of all, not knowing what to expect, the tablet tasted somewhat sour and chalky, but not really all that bad. After allowing it to dissolve completely all over my tongue, I started sampling my platter of options.
Here were my results:
- Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper – Tastes like “real” soda instead of artificially sweetened.
- Dill Pickle – Tastes like sweet pickle, which I am not a big fan of.
- Granny Smith Apple – was almost too sweet, tasted like a candy apple
- Grapefruit – Still tasted like grapefruit but much sweeter. I liked it but I like sweetened grapefruit juice to begin with.
- Lemon – Big difference. I could eat a ton of these. But still have to be careful not to give yourself ulcers by eating too much acid.
- Lime – Wow. Probably the biggest change in flavor. Yummy.
- Manchego, Idiazabal, and Mozzarella cheese were actually less enjoyable and bland.
- Mahon cheese was sweet and tasty.
- Mustard – Same taste, just a little sweeter
- Olive – No effect.
- Pretzel – No effect.
- Sour gummy Worm – Tasted really good. Less sweet than strawberry.
- Strawberry – Too sweet. Tasted like sugar candy.
- Thousand Island Dressing – Mmm. Sweet deliciousness. But I like Thousand island to begin with.
- Young’s Double Chocolate Stout – Perfect for dessert!
I’m a little surprised radishes and yogurt didn’t have a bigger change as they were recommended in some of the articles I read. Not all of the above observations are my personal observations, they are a collaboration.
At a second flavor tripping party, I expanded the options and had everyone jot down notes on their experience. Below is the complete list of the foods we sampled at a second party:
- Apple cider vinegar – Balsamic vinegar
- Balsamic vinegar – sweet balsamic, grape juice, sweet kool-aid, chocolaty
- BBQ sauce – smoky sweet
- Brussell sprouts – same, some said potato, watercrest, or even cigarettes
- Carrots – no change
- Cheap Margaritas – good margarita, top shelf
- Cheap tequila – good tequila
- Chipotle chips – same
- Clove cigarette – regular cigarette
- Corona – apple juice, very good not bitter, way better without lime, water
- Cottage cheese – salty, less cheese, same
- Cuba Libre – syrup
- Diet sodas – real sodas, sugary sodas
- Dill pickle – sweet pickle
- Dogfish IPA – mead, port
- Goat cheese – cream cheese
- Granny smith apple – very sweet, not tart, red apple
- Grapefruit – orange, grapefruit but much sweeter, no bitter aftertaste, only pulp has sourness, juice is sweet
- Green mangoes – sweet
- Guinness – chocolate milk, milkshake, weak irish crème, Car Bomb, iced coffee, carbonated coffee
- Guinness with lemon sorbet – sweet dude!, cherries
- Horseradish – sweet radish, sweet root, hotdog with mustard
- Hot sauces – less spicy – citrus sauces had most change
- Hot wings – sweet and sour Asian, slightly sweet and hot!, chick like peanuts, wing sauce burns lips but not spicy on taste
- Ketchup – sweet sauce, same, apple butter, apple pie
- Lemons – Best Candy Ever, lemony sugar, lemonade
- Lemon head – like froot loops, same
- Limes – sweet tangy delish, limeade, oranges, could eat a whole one
- Miraculin tablets – Flintstone vitamin, cardboard, sweet, bitter
- Mustard – sweeter
- Pickle juice – sweet, salty cucumber
- Pineapple – very sweet
- Potato – slightly sweeter, sweet potato, caramel popcorn
- Radish – no change or mushroom
- Ranch Dressing – no change
- Rum and coke – water
- Salsa – sweet!, bbq sauce
- Sour gummy worm – super sweet
- Sour patch candy – sweet patch
- Strawberries – fake nutrasweet, supersweet, awesome, best ever!, sugar covered strawberry
- Tabasco sauce – sweet with spice fire, spicy donut glaze
- Tomato – sweet cherry tomato, same
- Vinegars – different but disgusting, less acidity, sweet pickle juice
- Young’s chocolate stout – tasty chocolate, yoohoo, campfire smores
- Yogurt (plain) – no change or sour cream
- Miracle Fruit Tabs – courtesy of DW!zzy via Flickr
Buy taste tripping pills on Amazon:
I found that the effects of the tablet lasted for about an hour. Since then, I have experimented with eating only a quarter of a tablet and it lasted the duration of a meal(15-30 min). Adding to the dosage doesn’t intensify the effect, it just prolongs the effect so it makes sense to only use the minimal amount and take more as needed.
For your first time, I would go ahead and use a half tablet to ensure you get the full experience. Make sure you include Tabasco, grapefruit, lemons, and lime with your meal, as those have the biggest effect. Also, you can give yourself ulcers if you eat too much citrus, especially lemons and limes, so be careful not to go crazy and overdo it.
- Fruit – A Flavor Tripping Sampling. Courtesty of robbplusjessie via Flickr
–V
awesome write-up. try the miracle berry with fage greek yogurt which is what we serve at our flavor tripping parties. it takes sweet like custart. david alan (aka tipsy texan) said it tasted like whipped cream to him. also try tomatillos and rhubarb. amazing changes!
we have one more event this friday, 7/31 @ the belmont. 6-8 pm.
tickets are available at http://www.theberryfairy.com. if you’d like to come we’d love to have you as a guest 🙂
and the packaging for those tablets has changed. we will have the new improved packages of miracle berry tablets at the event for $20 for 10 tablets.
Tomatillos are amazing when you’ve got your berry on. They taste like the sweetest of fully ripe plums. See you at Friday’s flavor tripping party?
We’ll be there with camera, pencil, and paper ready
For those interested in having their own flavor tripping party, you can order the fresh fruit directly from the grower at http://www.ethanbradley.com/ . Thanks!
I think the best is fresh miracle fruit, I have some trees (see blog Magicalfruit.com) but when its off season I buy tablets