This is pretty trippy...

Apparently, it will make lemons taste like lemonade, and goat cheese take like the sweetest candy. In the underground eating circuit, people throw ‘miracle fruit’ parties where they lay out a whole smorgasboard of bitter and unappetizing snacks. But after they take a swig of Synsepalum dulcificum, they go to town like its the most delicious food they’ve ever tasted.

This berry - and its rogue glycoprotein named, seriously, miraculin - temporarily robs you of your ability to taste sour and bitter flavors. It became a fixture in West Africa, where locals would use it to down otherwise unpalatable meals. But in a world of sweetness-hating dieting fads, a global following wasn’t long in coming.

It’s become a bit of a hit in Japan. And yet, the miracle berry is still not readily available in the United States - classified as a food additive by the FDA in 1974, it has not yet been approved for wide distribution. Most first-timers will be forced to track down an on-line distributor - or, alternatively, befriending a friendly circle of ‘foodies’ who like to throw sweet, sweet parties.