Fairy tale ideas you’ve long since given up on: a land where you never grow up (or – presumably – old), a glass slipper that somehow attracts the most handsome and successful men, and that spoonful of sugar that makes bitter medicine delightful. 

Not so fast on that last one.

There is a red berry that can make everything sour taste sweet. It exists. Yes, really.

It’s called miracle fruit, and the small red berries contain a chemical that reacts with your taste buds, causing acids to taste sweet. After eating just one berry, sucking a lemon wedge suddenly tastes like eating a lemon Starburst. The effect lasts anywhere from 20 minutes up to two hours, and it affects only foods that taste sour – salty foods and other flavors are unchanged

Miracle fruit trees are native to Africa, but because they flourish in humid tropical environments, they grow well in Hawai‘i. Nurseries all over the state grow them and you can easily have one of your own – the trees are happy in a planter living on your lanai.

For more information visit: www.leichic.com

Miracle fruit trees are available at Frankie’s Nursery Waimanalo:
41-999 Mahiku Place
808.259.8737
www.frankiesnursery.com
The berries alone can be purchased for $1 each when the nursery picks them, every few months throughout the year, depending on when the trees fruit.

Trees are also available at Plant It Hawaii, in Kurtistown on the Big Island
808.966.6633
www.plantithawaii.com

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