I read somewhere that miraculin – sometimes known as miracle fruit – is a small berry with a citrus taste. But the miracle is not what it tastes like, but what it makes everything else taste like. So, for example, if you chew it up and then eat a lemon, the lemon will actually taste sweet. The effect of miraculin lasts for about an hour and you can use it to confuse your taste buds into turning vinegar into lemonade. The only problem is that when the vinegar hits your throat it burns all the way down because miraculin only works on the tongue’s taste buds. But your throat and stomach still know an acid when they feel one.
It reminds me of that timeless wisdom from the Bible that says, ‘Though there are things that are sweet in the mouth and we cannot bear to let them go, yet they will turn sour in the stomach and become the venom of serpents.’ It’s always the long term effect of things that we need to consider most.