Cont. from page 2
A cluster of ripe miracle fruit Synsepalum dulcificum that are ready to pick and eat
Click to enlarge.
I find that apple cider vinegar tastes like apple juice with an aftertaste. dry wine tastes like sweet desert wine. Beer tastes sweet. Liquors and mixed drinks are interesting to expirement with. Plain unflavored yoghurt loses it's harshness and tastes mildly sweet. Whole milk tastes slightly sweeter. Sour cream tastes like whipped heavy cream. Store bought fruit generally tastes sweeter.
When taken with meals, my experience is that miracle fruit does best taken with breakfast. This is because lunch and dinner foods usually contain more acids designed to impart zest to the dishes whereas for breakfast, people generally have a bias towards sweetness and the miracle fruit helps reduce the perceived need to add sweeteners.
Eat the miracle fruit being sure to thouroughly coat the tongue. Wait 60-90 seconds and begin eating breakfast. If you have a bowl of fresh fruit, the miracle fruit helps make the normally bland storebought fruit taste a bit sweeter. Bitter, sour grapefruit will taste like you sprinkled sugar on it. The miracle fruit blocks the tongue from detecting the lactic acid in the milk and cereal will taste naturally sweeter.
Shelf life and storage
I haven't tried serious experimenting with shelf life, freezing or dehydrating of miracle fruit. My experience when comparing freshly picked fruit versus ripe fruit allowed to sit on the counter several days is that the acid blocking effect of miracle fruit is best when fresh picked fruit are used.
Cold protection
The miracle fruit as a tropical is cold sensitive and must be protected from frost/freeze. My experience is that some leaf damage occurs at about 35 degrees fahrenheit. How you choose to cold protect your miracle fruit is your decision based on your conditions.
As with most cold sensitive plants, there is some temperature threshold which while not harmful in the short run, causes the plant to temporarily stop growing and producing flowers. I don't know exactly where this threshold temperature is but if you are in an area where nighttime temperatures can dip into the 45-55 F range and you want to enjoy miracle fruit through the winter, you may want to consider planting in a container and bringing the container inside during cooler periods.
An alternative during cooler nights is to provide a heated covering such as blankets with a low wattage light bulb on the ground inside the covered area.
In colder areas, your miracle fruit plants will need to spend the winter months inside a greenhouse, inside your home or basement. Depending upon where you keep it inside such as a dark basement, I would use a grow light for about 8 hours per 24 hour period. Mine winter inside my heated basement near a large window and get plenty of light. Heated air can be dry so, I placed a humidifier next to the plant.
Questions and comments
I'm not an expert at growing miracle fruit but have managed to grow them successfully for many years. If you have questions about your miracle fruit, send me a question here.
