I’m a culinary explorer. So when Scoutmob and Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters posted a $25 deal to try the “Miracle Fruit” or M-berry, I had to do it. It’s called Flavor Tripping. The fruit is Synsepalum dulcificum, a small red berry containing a glycoprotein, Miraculin, which alters how the mind perceives tastes by coating the taste buds, temporarily modifying their shape, so the taste receptors interpret flavors differently.
Jason Dominy, Outreach Coordinator at Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roastery, hosted the event. Jason is a coffee brewer extraordinaire and knows a thing or two about taste buds. “I was intrigued by the miracle fruit parties when I read about them,” says Dominy. “We focus so much on tasting and experiencing subtle notes and flavors in coffee here; this just seemed like a really perfect way to expand on that.” There’s another sold out event scheduled for the first week of March.
So the night went like this: Everyone got a fresh berry. There were 10 stations with food including potato chips, Guinness beer, Srirachahot sauce, lemons, limes, sour cream, pickles, tomatoes and more. We’d been told that lemons would taste like sweet lemonade, beer would become a chocolate milkshake, and hot sauce would be almost syrupy.
So how was it? As is often the case in the real world, the experience varied for everyone. For some everything became sweeter, smoother, improving all foods. Some saw no change at all. I only saw a difference in two foods. I found the sour cream very smooth, like sweetened Greek yogurt. The lemons really did taste sweet, like intense, sugary lemonade. The limes by contrast, were more tart and bitter than usual. But everything else tasted the same for me. Dominy graciously allowed me a second berry. The tastes of the two items were even more intense, and the salt and vinegar potato chips lost their tart and salty flavor. But that was the only change for me.
But it is an interesting experience and I recommend you give it a try. If you do, make sure to chew the berry (or tablet) completely and swirl it around your mouth for a full minute or more. The effect lasts somewhere between 15 minutes to 2 hours.
You can also tour Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roastery with Atlanta Culinary Tours.
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