Today, I’m diving into the world of “miracle fruit” tablets, a trend that promises to turn sour, bitter, or even bland foods into sweet, delicious treats. With skepticism in tow, I decided to try these tablets for myself to see if they truly deliver on the hype. After unboxing, reading through a few thousand Amazon reviews, and gathering an assortment of foods, I was ready to put these miracle berries to the test.
Where to Purchase
I picked these up on Amazon where it currently holds a respectable 4.1-star rating among over 18,000 reviews, as of this November 2024 update.
Note: There is a similar product called Nature’s Wild Berry, discussed below.
First Impressions and Unboxing
These miracle fruit tablets cost me about $17.35 for a 10-count box. Upon opening the box, I found them packed like a pharmaceutical product, along with some instructions and suggestions on which foods to try. They promised to be organic, preservative-free, and supposedly capable of making foods taste sweeter and more flavorful, especially sour or bitter items like lemons, vinegar, and even cheese.
Testing the Tablets: Sour and Bitter Foods
Lemon Wedges
After letting the tablet dissolve on my tongue (it took about five minutes), I tried my first taste test with a lemon wedge. To my surprise, the sour lemon tasted like sweet lemonade! It wasn’t just a mild shift—my brain was genuinely tricked into thinking I was eating something sugary, not acidic. It was so sweet that I could eat it straight, something I would never do normally.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Next up was apple cider vinegar, a taste that I usually can’t handle straight due to its intense sourness and burn. To my astonishment, the vinegar tasted almost like sweet apple juice. The burning sensation in my throat was still there, but the taste itself was smooth and pleasant. This experience was truly bizarre, as the sourness was replaced with a strange, syrupy sweetness.
Lime Juice and Merlot
The lime juice had a similar effect, transforming into something that tasted like refreshing limeade. Even wine (Merlot) tasted sweeter than usual, resembling a sugary red wine. This test really showed the tablet’s power to alter my perception of acidic flavors, turning them into enjoyable, candy-like versions of themselves.
Exploring Spicy and Strong-Flavored Foods
Frank’s Red Hot and Mustard
Curious about how the tablets would handle spicier flavors, I moved on to Frank’s Red Hot sauce. Shockingly, it tasted like a sweet, tangy barbecue sauce rather than the fiery hot flavor I’m used to. With mustard, a condiment I love for its sharp taste, I noticed a sweetness that muted its usual bite. The flavor wasn’t as intense, but the sweetness added an unexpected twist.
Clementines and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos
Interestingly, foods that were already naturally sweet, like clementines, didn’t show much of a difference. However, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos took on a strange “sweet heat” sensation—the spice was still there, but the sweetness made them taste oddly like a dessert version of a spicy snack.
Real-World Test: Miracle Berries and Fast Food
Later, I decided to test the tablets on fast food items to see if they’d make any real difference in a typical meal setting.
Chicken Nuggets and Fries
With chicken nuggets, the tablet didn’t affect the nuggets themselves much, but it did sweeten the hot mustard sauce, making it taste like a cross between honey mustard and traditional hot mustard. For the fries, there wasn’t a huge change, but dipping them in ketchup was a different story—the ketchup was overpoweringly sweet, almost like a sugary condiment rather than a tomato-based one.
Filet-O-Fish and Cheeseburger
The Filet-O-Fish had a faintly sweeter tartar sauce, though it wasn’t a major change. The biggest surprise came with the cheeseburger’s ketchup, which, once again, turned super-sweet and almost masked the burger flavor. Even the Diet Coke tasted like it had double the usual sweetness, pushing it closer to a regular sugary soda.
Alternative
My son and I taste-tested food and drink items from Shark Tank’s Season 14 lineup, and there was a product in that batch called Nature’s Wild Berry, which is quite similar to this. You can find that one on Amazon, or watch the full review here. The effect was the same, but it seemed like Nature’s Wild Berry took significantly less time to dissolve. Otherwise, they are essentially the same.
Conclusion: Fun but Limited Use
The miracle fruit tablet certainly lives up to its reputation of altering flavors, especially with sour and bitter foods. It’s fun to try, especially as a parlor trick or a unique experience. While it could potentially help someone who has dietary restrictions or needs to eat certain foods for health reasons, it’s mostly just a novelty.
If you’ve ever tried miracle fruit tablets, I’d love to hear about your experience. Leave a comment below with your favorite (or least favorite!) food transformation, and thanks for joining me on this wild taste-testing adventure.
Video Review
Check out my full review in the video below.