Miracle Fruit is CRAP!

A month or so ago, my husband and I were watching CSI NY. We love that show. Their case involved a fruit from Africa with a big long name containing something called Miraculin or something like that and in short is called Miracle Fruit. It is a fruit that tricks your taste buds into thinking things are sweet.

The day after I did some research on the internet and decided to order some of this "miracle" fruit. Turns out it is real, and people have had good experiences with it. People in New York have parties and people eat the fruit and then taste all different kinds of sour or bitter foods. These parties are called "Flavor Tripping" parties.

I ordered some miracle frooties, which are tablets made from the extract of the fruit from the part that contains the miraculin. I received them in the mail this week.

Today I went to the grocery store and bought some fresh baby spinach, carrots, onion, snap peas, broccoli, and orange bell peppers. All foods I HATE. All foods I was expecting to have no taste or a slightly sweet taste after having the miracle fruit.

I put the miracle fruit tablet in my mouth and let it dissolve as I rolled it around on my tongue as directed. I did get a small tingly feeling on my tongue like it was a mild numbing feeling, but nothing too serious. So I figured this stuff must just numb your taste buds in order to remove the taste, but then where does the sweet come into play?

The smaller the tablet got, the more sour it tasted. I wanted so badly to spit it out, but I sucked it up and held out thinking I'm doing this for my own good. This will help me be able to eat foods I can't tolerate. As my face cringed and contorted from the sourness, I was looking at the food thinking "this had better be worth it".

After the tablet was completely dissolved, I waited a few seconds for the full effect. I took a big bite of baby spinach. I chewed it up and it tasted horrendous! I gagged and spit it out in the sink.

Next I tried a carrot. Gross! It still tasted like a carrot. I spit that out too.

Then I tried a bite of broccoli. EWWW! Disgusting! I spit that out as well.

Figuring something had to give, I took a bit of the snap pea. Nope, that tasted horrible too. Dang! I was getting so discouraged.

Next came the onion. BLECH! It was still a nasty onion! I spit that out too.

Finally, I hoped my last resort the orange bell pepper would taste sweet. I took a bite, chomped on it, and threw up. So much for the so called "miracle fruit".

After that I reached for the jar of peanut butter and ate two spoonfuls to get the taste of all the disgustingness out of my mouth. I'd just been traumatized!

I want my money back!

I went back on the website today to see if it had a big sign that read "Dork that fell for our miracle fruit crap" on there. That wasn't there, but it should have been. It did have a page of recommended fruit, such as lemons, limes, tomatoes, rhubarb, strawberries, green apples, pineapples, and grapefruit.

I figured out the secret after reading that. Of course those fruits will taste sweet compared the most extreme sour tablet you just had.

I'm glad I tried it. I went in with an open mind, and I can honestly say that I tried. I really would like to be able to eat those kinds of foods.

Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve with my husband's family. The boys had fun playing with their cousins. All of their Minnesota cousins are girls, but they have fun. Kevin and the oldest girl cousin get along so well together. She is more of tomboy so she will play the boy stuff that Kevin likes to do. Sam just plays chase with the smaller girl cousins and tell them stuff to do and they listen and do what ever he says.

Sam was ready to open presents last night at grandma & grandpa's house, so he asked if every one was ready too. Grandma said "No, some of us are still eating dinner." About a half an hour later, every one was finished eating. Sam looked around and said "Is everyone done eating?" He looked around and said " Yep, I say you all are. Time to open presents!"

So it was settled. Present opening commenced. Sam got the game Sorry and he was so excited. It was on his list and he couldn't wait to play it. He got some Star Wars pajamas and a Star Wars bedtime robe. He won't wear it if I call it a robe, so I told him it is a cozy blanket with sleeves and pockets. That got him to wear it.

Kevin got a book about WWII Navy Aircraft Carriers. He was excited about that. He got a Yadda, Yadda, Yadda toy, which you record your voice and then play it back either sped up or slowed way down. It sure does make us all laugh and I think the batteries are almost dead. He got a few other goodies, that he has horded off somewhere, so no one gets into them.

This morning at 7 am they woke up and woke up my husband & I, so we could all go to the tree together. I had to get in proper photography position so I could snap a picture of the looks on their faces. They had big smiles when they saw what was under the tree. Star Wars figures, a stuffed animal, and a poster made especially for them. Then we opened up presents. Sam got a virtual fish aquarium. It's pretty neat. It's a real fish tank with fake fish. It's so nice, we don't have to feed them, clean the tank, and the cats can't eat them. Kevin got a Nikon Coolpix point & shoot camera. He loves it. He's becoming quite the little photographer. He took 100 pictures with it today already. Most of them are just of things around the house. Anything he could take a picture of. I told him the rules with the camera are 1) he has to be careful with it and not leave it laying around to get broken & 2) it's not going to camp.

The boys got lots of Star Wars toys, a Star Wars Dictionary, and Star Wars Monopoly game. So it was a very Star Wars Christmas. They have been having fun all day with their new loot.

I made a big huge ham for dinner along with home made cheesy potatoes, Ken's favorite green bean casserole, relish dish, apple sauce. I made some stove top stuffing for Kevin and some french fries for Sam. I made an Apple Pie with the help of my good friend Mrs. Smith. She sure knows how to make a good Apple Pie. So our bellies are full. We'll have left overs to last us until New Years. Or at least pretty close to it.

And I have a gigantic pile of dishes to do. Where's my fairy Godmother when I need her?