Freeze the berries unless you are going to eat them immediately. They spoil quickly. Something with little nails (squirrels or birds) gets to my miracle fruit as soon as they turn red, unless I get to them first. I lost the first two berries last week to the critters. I really, really, really want that garden cam.
I sound like a broken record...but here it goes again....miracle fruit is truly the coolest edible that one can grow. Here's why:
When the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, the fruit reacts with the taste buds in the tongue, causing sour foods to taste sweet. You eat the fruit as you would eat a fresh cherry, except keep it in your mouth for about 30 seconds before discarding the pit. It tastes good. The fruit works by distorting the shape of sweetness receptors so that they become responsive to acids, instead of sugar and other sweet things. This effect lasts 15-30 minutes.
To read more posts about miracle fruit, click on the label at the bottom of tihs post....or type it in the top left search box.
Is Miracle Fruit commonly grown in the United States? I've never heard of anyone growing it in a private garden before. I wonder if it would grow in Northern California...
ReplyDelete**Check out Adina Sara's gardening column in the MacArthur Metro! Visit www.adinasara.com for links to the column and her book, The Imperfect Garden**
So how did you deal with the critters? It has been two years of constant tending to get a fruit from my plant (I live in NYC and winters consist mostly of a weak growing light, hence the time), and now squirrels and such are at them even before they ripen. Any advice would be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteAh, I found your answer here to my question regarding the sour and sweet. Regarding the animals with nails could also be iguanas. My one medium successful harvest was a constant battle to beat the animals to my garden. I think it was either iguanas, racoons or armadillos. Just three other possible critters of zone 10. ~Terri
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