Be Smart

Everyone's experienced the unpleasant sensation of eating something very sweet, say syrup-soaked pancakes, and then taken a bite or sip of something just slightly less sweet, like orange juice, and found that the juice suddenly tastes sour and bitter. How much nicer would it be if you could eat something sweet and make everything else you eat even sweeter? Miracle fruit tablets, or "miracle berries" accomplish just that by causing a protein reaction in your mouth which makes even the sourest, bitterest things, like a sharp lemon, taste sweet.



The geeks at ThinkGeek have tried the miracle fruit, and claim that it makes straight limes taste like the sweetest, most ambrosial limeade. Even better? Something already sweet, like ripe oranges, tasted like "they were plucked straight from the Garden of Eden".

While it's a bit strange, it's also quite appealing because unless you live near a farmer's market, you're unlikely to ever encounter truly ripe, fresh, naturally sweet fruit. Supermarket fruits are often gorgeous, with shiny luscious skins, but their beauty is superficial -take a bite and there's barely a hint of fruit taste at all. I am always longing for the sweet plums and cherries from my childhood, but except for peaches and strawberries, which my Mom grows in her yard, most fruits I eat are sub-par and need a sprinkling of sugar or Splenda. Perhaps the solution is to eat a Miracle fruit tablet before eating any other kind of fruit. One tablet's effects last up to an hour, and just a half-tablet is enough to sweeten most tart, acidic foods. There's nothing artificial in the tablets, just the fruit powder and corn starch.

A box of 10 tablets (which is really 20 servings) is $20 from ThinkGeek.