Fantastic Food in Florida PLUS: Miracle Berries!

For many of us, one of the best parts about vacation is the food!   I admit, I’m one of those who throws the diet out the window for a week.  That happened last week when I went to Florida.  Of course the seafood there is amazing, and Cuban food is delicious and readily available.  (I will get into some of that during Part Two of this story)

Right now I want to focus on something I discovered at the Fruit and Spice Park in Homestead, Florida.  There are tours there, and the staff will let you do a taste test.   That’s when they break out the MIRACLE BERRIES!   If you haven’t heard of them, they’re native to West Africa, and can trick your taste buds into thinking something bitter and sour is sweet and delicious.   The technical name of it is Synsepalum dulcificum.  I’m including the Wikipedia description of it here.  It contains miraculin, hence the name Miracle Fruit.

You can hear more about it here:

I highly recommend visiting the Fruit and Spice Park.  It’s 37 acres of botanical bliss!   I can’t tell you how much I loved that place.  It’s run by Miami Dade County Parks, and the admission price was $10.  That’s less than everything else I did in the state and it’s worth every single penny.  The idea of the park is to highlight the tropical fruits and vegetables grown in the region, and any fruit that drops on the ground is yours to eat.   There were huge avocadoes, mangos, coconuts, starfruit, and so much more!

By the way, I brought home some Miracle Berry seeds.   I’m going to try and grow them, although I doubt it will work here since our climate is very different.