Unusual request - bad tasting foods

[Soop]

Well maybe not "bad", but I'd like to ask you guys to list some sour/bitter foods (and even better if it's good for you). I just heard about miracle fruit, and immediately ordered some.

In case you don't know (and I'm guessing most of you do being predominantly American where it's more prevalent) Miracle fruit has the property of binding sweet molecules to your toungue and lending this property to other foods for a while after.

[spellweaver16]

I would be really tempted to try drinking alcohol and see how it tastes after a miracle fruit.

[lost squirrel]

If I remember correctly, wine tasted funny but not terrible.

[spellweaver16]

Depends on your taste. I hate the taste of alcohol in general lol But bad-tasting or no, I'd want to try it just to see what it tastes like after a miracle fruit.

[lycheefloat]

Crab apples, raw daikon, bitter greens, charred food (probably not the most healthy), citrus peel, sour cherries, currants

[dexters]

I think you are making reference to the yin/yang philosophy of some Asian cuisines ? There is some thought that the reason that so many Americans crave sweet is that they aren't consuming enough bitter foods, right?

Anyway, strong black coffee is another one!

[porker]

A bit off-topic, but a mayan guide in Belize told me something along the same lines. He believes many health-related problems with today's 'modern', north-american diet stem from the loss of our taste for bitter.

[Mattkn]

Dried Dragon Fruit-bitter, good source of Fiber and Vitamin C. I've seen it at TJs.

[ipsedixit]

unripe persimmons

[hill food]

I'm puckering up just remembering persimmons and not in a good way.

[beany]

Bitter melon...especially the seeds!

[avena]

I have to emphasize beany's response...BITTER MELON!!! My grandma loves it, but it is the most bitter thing I've ever tasted. If Miracle Fruit works on bitter melon, then it truly deserves its name.

[Soop]

Thanks everyone! From what I understand, it wouldn't work on durian, but there are plenty of very good ideas - I would never have got tonic water :D

[moh]

I have a question. I thought miracle fruit worked on bitter and sour, does it work on things like Durian? Durian isn't really bitter or sour, it is more sewer-like. Anyhow, it would warrant investigation!

Bitter: Chicory. Ginseng. Bitter melon. Rapini. Occasionally, artichokes.

Sour: Sauerkraut. Pickles.

Have fun!

[klyeoh]

Hey, I happen to think that the durian is the most divine-tasting fruit on the planet!

Worst-tasting/smelling food in the world for me:
1. Fermented soy milk in Beijing - it's greenish with mould, and smells/tastes like you're drinking something which was flushed down the toilet;
2. Korean silkworms soup - it's brown, brackish, you can see silkworms floating on top (with their teeny-weeny legs attached) & smells awful even from 10 feet away;
3. Norwegian rotten shark - I thought my Norwegian friends were trying to poison me.

[beany]

What would be the purpose of drinking something that smells and tastes like sewage? is it an acquired taste?

I know soy is very popular there, but the benefits of can be had in other more savoury ways right?

[klyeoh]

It's supposedly a "health drink" - at least according to the Beijingers who were hosting the dinner where I was served this fermented soymilk "soup-drink". It's called "dou jer", and some Beijingers apparently drank it on a daily basis!

The only other drink which is almost as disgusting (but not quite) is the "sol kadi", another "healthy" (so the locals say) digestif very popular in Mumbai.

[mrbozo]

Full-on months old kimchi. It'll cure whatever is ailing you and will keep those who would do you harm well away from you. Highly recommended.

[Glencora]

Overcooked cabbage, brussels sprouts, and grapefruit are three I can't eat, It would indeed be a miracle if I could. Oh, and tonic water.

[porker]

wholeheartedly agree with the tonic water - I always imagined arsenic would taste like generic brand tonic water...

[porker]

Having yet to try, I understand Durian can be pretty bad. Maybe not so much the taste, but the odor is described as rotting sewage. Having smell going hand in hand with taste, I think it may be described as bad tasting?

[KevinB]

The Chinese refer to durian as the fruit that "tastes like heaven, smells like hell". It is forbidden to carry it on airplanes in SE Asia, and in many places, the better hotels will not allow you to bring to a room. My Chinese wife loves it; I have to leave the room (sometimes the house!) when she eats it.

[Vexorg]

Someone here at work brought in some Duran cookies from a recent trip to Asia a few months ago, and eventually someone had to send out a "no, there is NOT a gas leak" e-mail to half of the floor. And that's just a bag of cookies...

[invinotheresverde]

Man, the smell is always so much worse than you think it'll be. I kind of like the taste, but it's really tough to get past that smell.

[avena]

Funny, that exact same thing happened to someone I know! They actually evacuated her building because her co-worker had opened a bag of Durian Waffer cookies.

I was taking a tropical botany class and we brought fruit in to class to try the more unusual ones, and I brought a frozen durian I bought from a Chinese supermarket. The grad students wanted to all try a piece, and we ended up stinking up the whole botany department floor! Jack Fruit, a relative to the durian, has a similar repugnant smell, though not as strong, imo.

[pinkprimp]

I actually LOVE the smell AND the taste

[dolores]

Well, I didn't actually try it (threw it out after having it sit in my house for weeks) but I'd be interested in the Miracle Fruit's power on the Jelly Belly Vomit jellybean.

[Johnresa]

Acai berries are super tart, lemons, grapefruit...uhhhhh...brain freeze...lol

Cranberries....now there's another