PASSIONATE RATIONS

One day at the end of May I got an email from China and one from right here in town. They were entirely independent of each other (the authors having only the barest knowledge of each other’s existence on the planet), but the subject was the same: have a miracle fruit party.

Now, I immediately thought they were talking about something entirely different than…ahem…actual fruit, but no. It turns out the New York Times had a little article on a little berry that’s rocking the food world and turning Tabasco into doughnut glaze.

It hails from West Africa and is called synsepalum dulcificum. And it trips out your taste buds, or whatever it is that makes your palate perceive sour stuff. Makes it all sweet.

At $2 per berry (probably more now that NYT has gotten the word out), it will make paying for gas seem cheap-n-easy. But since we’re staying home, I note that summer is a good time to party.

Sweet.