Comments on: Flavor Tripping Party

Question: Flavor Tripping Party

howgenerica — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:06:19 -0800

My friend is having a flavor tripping party (with the miracle-fruit berry), and has asked everyone to bring something to try. I am shot for ideas. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Something creative, or clever, or anything, really. Just not lemons. Thanks!

By: ian1977

ian1977 — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:12:03 -0800

Baking chocolate!

By: tkolar

tkolar — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:12:51 -0800

See if you can get your hands on some durian. Handle with care of course.

By: MattS

MattS — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:14:10 -0800

I hosted one a few weeks ago and I really enjoyed all of the following: sour-patch kids, rhubarb, unsweetened cranberries, and vinegar. Yes, the vinegar tasted like sweet white wine.

Guinness was pretty good too, it tasted like chocolate milk, which was great until the novelty wore off and we all just wanted it to taste like Guinness.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:14:54 -0800

I'm not sure I understand the question. Are you looking for recipes involving a specific fruit, or are you just supposed to come up with "bring things that are ostensibly 'berry-flavored'?"

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:17:01 -0800

Grapefruit was hands-down my favorite Miracle Change.

By: rmless

rmless — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:17:03 -0800

Blue cheese

By: jquinby

jquinby — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:18:21 -0800

Magic Berry. Key limes, maybe?

By: InsanePenguin

InsanePenguin — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:21:25 -0800

I'm not sure I understand the question. Are you looking for recipes involving a specific fruit, or are you just supposed to come up with "bring things that are ostensibly 'berry-flavored'?"

The miracle fruit is a a fruit that changes your taste buds' ability to...taste, and so things that are normally sour taste sweet, and the like. A flavor-tripping party is when you have the guests bring different sour and/or bitter foods, and you taste them after eating the miracle fruit.

By: mattdidthat

mattdidthat — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:24:59 -0800

Vanilla extract.

By: painquale

painquale — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:25:31 -0800

When I hosted one of these parties, people were most impressed with strawberries. They didn't taste like alien fruit or unleash a whole new flavor sensation or anything, but the miracle berries did manage to make crappy pale enlarged supermarket strawberries taste like the sweetest strawberries ever. It hinted at a practical use for miracle fruit.

Lemons and vinegar were the other winners, however unoriginal they may be. Whenever we tried to branch out into new creative foods, the experience was underwhelming -- there's a reason that the standards are so standard. Goat cheese tasted like cheesecake; that was impressive.

By: Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger

Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:25:58 -0800

Yellow onions

By: found missing

found missing — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:26:05 -0800

9V battery is the obvious suggestion

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:29:06 -0800

In addition to the suggestions above, I'll add tomatoes, and hot peppers/hot sauce. The tomatoes weren't good, really, more like blobs of corn syrup, but damned interesting.

By: piratebowling

piratebowling — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:33:27 -0800

baking chocolate is no good on miracle fruit, it just tastes waxy.

Citrus fruit, especially grapefruit, is fucking orgasmic, though.

By: ian1977

ian1977 — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:33:51 -0800

A bar of soap.

By: AngerBoy

AngerBoy — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:39:37 -0800

Strawberries, grapefruit, goat cheese, pomegranate seeds (YUM).

Don't waste your time on beer or wine (except that I agree - Guinness is AWESOME on miracle fruit).

By: mattbucher

mattbucher — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:39:37 -0800

Wasabi paste

By: Confess, Fletch

Confess, Fletch — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:41:08 -0800

Kombucha, it can't possibly make it taste worse.

By: dithmer

dithmer — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:43:07 -0800

oranges were delicious. we also had cream cheese and cottage cheese and tabasco.

By: motherly corn

motherly corn — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:45:28 -0800

Nthing grapefruit--it was the favorite when we tried the miracle fruit. I seem to be the only one, but I wasn't impressed with Guinness. To me it just tasted flat. I prefer my Guinness the old fashioned way.

By: i_cola

i_cola — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:47:18 -0800

Brussel sprouts. Cornichons. Espresso. Pepperdews. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Kale. Radicchio. Rocket (Arugula). Beetroot (Garden/Red beet) leaves (cook them like spinach). A few sample bottles so people can try their own piss.

By: The White Hat

The White Hat — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:48:22 -0800

Cinnamon stick. Hot and sour soup. Miso soup. Parmesan cheese.

By: theDrizzle

theDrizzle — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:56:16 -0800

nthing Grapefruit, its the best

Other interesting things we tried were raw onions, tequila shots (no chaser/lime needed), tabasco sauce, and sourdough bread.

By: Durin's Bane

Durin's Bane — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:57:01 -0800

Real (as in fermented) sauerkraut.

By: pseudostrabismus

pseudostrabismus — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:05:20 -0800

Hey, not to derail- but where'd you guys get these berries? I wanna try too!

Also, how about tasting:
ketchup & mustard
pineapple
mint leaves
unsweetened coffee
red wine

By: saxamo

saxamo — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:06:09 -0800

Sour Cream? Fresh Basil?

By: greatgefilte

greatgefilte — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:19:35 -0800

Here's a second shout-out to rhubarb. It's awesome. Fantastic. Like candy.

By: Ugh

Ugh — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:20:47 -0800

ThinkGeek has the tablets which supposedly work better than the actual berries. If you want to stick with the real thing, try eBay when they're in season.

By: svolix

svolix — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:22:42 -0800

Worcestershire sauce changed far more than anything else I had at the flavortripping party.

By: Sara Anne

Sara Anne — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:29:07 -0800

marmite?

By: jclovebrew

jclovebrew — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:04:06 -0800

A pure (non-fruit) Lambic! I've been dying to know what that tastes like after eating the miracle berry.

By: robotot

robotot — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:05:35 -0800

What about lemomgrass? Maybe that'd work?

By: junipero

junipero — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:00:31 -0800

marzipan
yeast
pepper flakes
mayonaise
vegemite
beef bouillon
horseradish
tang powder

oh i just cannot wait to hear how this turns out! please post!

By: ouke

ouke — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:10:35 -0800

Tamarind. Fine vinegars.

By: abirae

abirae — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:10:54 -0800

Limes were my favorite that I actually tried. Goat cheese was my second favorite but it was more subtle. Things I haven't tried that might be good are Greek yogurt, kumquats, nthing tamarind, nthing rhubarb and fat free "miracle" whip. (Har har. But seriously!)

By: nax

nax — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:48:40 -0800

Jalapenos?

By: backseatpilot

backseatpilot — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:12:04 -0800

That weird fermented shark meat that they make in (Iceland? Norway? I forget) that you bury in the ground for a while.

Or sardines. I guess those are easier to obtain. Vindaloo?

By: filmgeek

filmgeek — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:29:39 -0800

can you please go back and 'best answer' the ones that were great (or followup with a post)? I have the think geek tablets and I want to know which ones to try!

By: cybercoitus interruptus

cybercoitus interruptus — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:05:13 -0800

Tomatillos? (Whole Foods usually has them.)

By: Large Marge

Large Marge — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:43:33 -0800

bad beer. I'd also suggest maybe some ganache truffles out of baking chocolate.

By: evil_esto

evil_esto — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:56:43 -0800

Chinese salted plums, unsweetened Dutch licorice, olives.

By: watercarrier

watercarrier — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 06:07:04 -0800

Durian fruit.

By: pseudostrabismus

pseudostrabismus — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 06:24:50 -0800

Tomatoes?

By: kidsleepy

kidsleepy — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 07:02:47 -0800

Miracle fruit was totally on CSI: NY last night! They were analyzing the stomach contents of a victim and found things like lemon peels, coffee grounds, vinegar, blue cheese, and onions. The morgue guys were all "WTF?" but I knew what went down because of this post! Thanks Metafilter!
(BTW - One of the victim dies from drinking drain cleaner without knowing because of the berries. So, uh, I'd avoid drain cleaner at your party.)

By: eritain

eritain — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:12:05 -0800

Note: It makes sour taste sweet. It doesn't change bitter (that I've heard of), it doesn't change aroma, it doesn't change astringency or heat or saltiness or alcohol-related burning. So fresh jalapeños are not going to taste much different. Pickled ones will. Mint leaves aren't going to change. Soap isn't going to change. Chocolate isn't going to change (much). Vanilla is not going to change. Durian is still going to smell like an outhouse.

By: cybercoitus interruptus

cybercoitus interruptus — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:18:36 -0800

I brought those Miracle Fruit Tablets and a bunch of sour things to a potluck tonight (thanks Ugh for the link! 10 tablets/pkg, and I cut them in half to make them go farther, don't know if half the dose shortened the duration of the effect, but it lasted for us about 20-25 min).

Tomatillos weren't terribly interesting (they did taste sweeter, but no one knew what they were to begin with, so meh). Anaheim pepper, meh. Kumquats did become sweeter, but not dramatically so. Tabasco sauce and various balsamic vinegars (raspberry, citrus, fig) were very interesting. Some people loved the goat cheese, others were underwhelmed. People reacted most dramatically to the limes, lemons, grapefruit, and not-terribly-ripe strawberries. The strawberries were definitely the hit of the evening, with the grapefruit a distant second.

Unsweetened kefir was delicious (tried by myself, not at the potluck). Probably yogurt would be too, but I didn't have any handy. I may try the kefir out on people next time, in shot glasses.

It also helped to print out a couple copies of the wikipedia entry to hand out. It helped reassure the few who were concerned about safety or just generally weirded out by the concept. The weirded-out hung back until they witnessed people freaking out over the strawberries.

By: cybercoitus interruptus

cybercoitus interruptus — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:27:54 -0800

oh yeah, and two people mentioned the CSI episode. The writers may not have done their research as one of the articles I read about miracle fruit indicates that it only really works with organic acids.

By: k8t

k8t — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:26:31 -0800

As a follow up, we had a flavortripping party last night and used a lot of these suggestions.

GREAT: Goat cheese, Guiness and lemon sorbet, grapefruit, limequats
OK/INTERESTING: Lemon, orange, apple
MEH: SourPatchKids, Kumquats

By: booknerd

booknerd — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:42:28 -0800

We did this over the weekend, so here's a follow-up for posterity:

BEST: The most sour beer (a gueze) we could possibly find. I tried it right before taking the tablets and was so sour I could hardly drink it. Tried it again right afterwards, and it was amazing. Still a little sour, but didn't make my mouth pucker, and it was sweet, and there were a lot of other layers of flavor that had been masked by the sourness. Totally awesome.

RUNNERS UP: lemons, limes, and grapefruit. There was still a bit of sour flavor, so it wasn't just cloying sweetness, but you could taste the flavor a lot more than you can. They almost tasted like lemon, lime, or grapefruit flavored candy.

MILDLY INTERESTING: Strawberries (they just tasted like they'd been rolled around in sugar. A bit too overwhelmingly sweet for me. Blueberries were good. Pomegranate seeds tasted like pomegranate candy, but it wasn't a marked difference. We tried three kinds of vinegar (red wine, white wine, and plum), but they still just tasted like vinegar, which was unpleasant.