ARTS & EVENTS

The Great, Amazing Fruit: Adventurous Foodies Score Miracle Fruit to Tease Their Taste Buds

miracle fruit, synsepalum dulcificum, efn lounge
WHEN GRANDMA SAID to take lemons and make lemonade, she probably didn't have synsepalum dulcificum fruit in mind.

But that's what the little berries, often known as "miracle fruit" do. One places a berry on the tongue and lets it disintegrate, so the glycoprotein inside coats the taste buds, and presto — for an hour or so, bitter fare tastes sweet.

Eliot Blume said he held tasting parties with the berries in college, and he's taken that tradition to the EFN Lounge. From 7 to 9 p.m. on the second Friday of every month, starting Dec. 11, EFN plans on hosting "Flavor Tripping" parties, where $12 will buy a berry and access to a buffet.

The berries are imported from West Africa, so Blume said EFN is using an online reservation system, although it will take a limited number of $15 admissions at the door.

"The two questions I get on the Web site are, 'Is it legal?' and 'Does it work?'" he said. "Yes, it is legal, and, yes, it does work."

Does it ever. At a tasting preview, the berry completely defanged Sour Patch Kids candies, making them taste more like Swedish Fish. Rice wine vinegar turned into something like sweet dessert wine. Tabasco sauce retained some of its kick, but under the berry's influence it was downgraded to roughly the level of a Buffalo wing.

Blume said a buffet containing all of those items will be available in a part of the club converted into a "tripateria," along with bites like sugarless lemon cupcakes, mojitos, blueberries and strawberries.

By doing some experiments, the EFN staff have come up with some unexpected flavor reactions, Blume said.

Goat cheese? "Cheesecake. And if it's warm, it has the consistency of frosting."

A mix of lemon sorbet and Guinness? "It's like a chocolate milk shake." Bottom-of-the-shelf tequila? "It's like Patron."

One note about that tequila — the berries may fool the tongue, but the lips, throat and sense of smell are left as vulnerable as ever.

"That's what we have to warn people about," Blume said. "If you hit the balsamic vinegar and the lemons really hard, you might feel it the morning after."

» EFN Lounge, 1318 9th St. NW; 202-232-7450. (Mount Vernon Square)

Written by Express contributor Robert Margetta
Photo courtesy S.L. Tan

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COMMENTS (2)

  • The author wrongly identifies sourness as bitterness. Author claims, "One places a berry on the tongue and lets it disintegrate, so the glycoprotein inside coats the taste buds, and presto — for an hour or so, bitter fare tastes sweet." Author goes on to mention that once you've had this berry, things like lemons, vinegar, sour patch kids candies--things that have the sour taste, NOT bitter taste, start tasting sweet. It's sad that a newspaper doesn't know the difference between sour and bitter.

    By swarna , Posted December 3, 2009 9:20 AM

  • I love this piece; very Willy Wonka-esque. I had never heard of the berry and everyone I’ve mentioned it to thinks it sounds insane. I wonder if someone will try putting something like this to use in masking flavors of things we should be eating but aren’t. Like what would happen if you eat the berry and then try some lettuce? Bizarre!

    Hilarious quote at the end too. Thanks for the great work.

    By Julie Feldman , Posted December 4, 2009 11:53 AM
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