Miracle (?) Berries

Elder son, a true foodie, had a novelty pill for us to experiment with last night. It was produced by a Taiwanese company, Sen Yuh, and marketed under the label 'miracle berry.'  The idea is that, by placing a tablet - derived from natural products - on the tongue and letting it dissolve in the mouth, it will bind to the taste receptors and any bitter or acidic food eaten in the next hour will 'miraculously' taste sweet.

...Mmmmh, sounds a bit like snake oil to me.   

Anyway, we assembled a plate of citrus fruits, including lemon, lime and grapefruit and set about the experiment.

Well, yes, the grapefruit, lemon and lime tasted weirdly sweet, the tart bitterness of the normal acidic taste overwhelmed by a cloying sweetness. For some fruits the sweetness was overpowering, for others the bitterness and sweetness seemed to be engaging in a slogging match, neither one overcoming the other so that the fruit tasted both acid and sweet at the same time.  

Another interesting finding was that we differed in our reactions. Some of us had an overwhelmingly 'sweet' experience, other found particular fruits caused a battle of sweet and tart flavours in the mouth that caused us to pucker up. 

Interesting experiment? yes.

Repeat it? no thanks.