Miracle Frooties -- Making Sour Foods Taste Sweet

As I write this, I have a glass of apple cider vinegar and water on my desk. I made it good and strong -- maybe a quarter-cup of vinegar. And I added no sugar nor sweetener.

Yet it tastes delicious -- sweet and sour and apple-y. How can this be?

Miracle Frooties. And ain't they just the darnedest things?

You suck a Miracle Frootie until it's gone; the flavor is unremarkable, mildly fruity, but nothing you'd eat for its own sake. But after you suck a Miracle Frooty(Frootie?), sour things magically taste sweet. Hence, my glass of vinegar water that tastes like apple juice.

There are reports of lemons tasting like lemon drops; I may try that next -- or, come to think of it, I have grapefruit in the fridge. Bet that would be great. I may try a Miracle Frooty this summer when the sour cherries are in season! And I bet they'd be great with strawberries that are less-than-ideally sweet. The "magic" is supposed to last for anywhere between 15 minutes and an hour, mostly depending on what you eat.

Miracle Frooties mention just two ingredients on the box, "Miracle Fruit" and potato starch, though at Amazon.com -- my source -- they also list microcrystalline Cellulose, dibasic calcium phosphate and magnesium stearate; these don't alarm me.

But what's "Miracle Fruit"? Wikipedia says it's Synsepalum ducificum, a West African berry. The berry contains "miraculin," a compound that has this effect on the tongue. "Miraculin," huh? Sounds like the marketing guys named it. Reportedly the berry itself is low in sugar, and I can't imagine there's enough potato starch in one little tablet to spike blood sugar, so I'm pronouncing Miracle Frooties low carb.

They're not cheap; 10 tablets run $15, so unless the price comes down these are more a novelty than a viable alternative to other sweeteners. However, Wikipedia says that Miracle Fruit is now being cultivated in Puerto Rico and South Florida, so it's possible that the cost may eventually come down in the US.

Miracle Frooties are a fun diversion that can make your favorite sour foods sweet without sugar or artificial sweeteners. Worth a try!