It looks like all bets are off in Massachusetts these days. Q2 is on the books, the constitution’s been extended to gay people, and now Grand is inviting customers to trip out on magic berries.

They won’t produce any mind-melting visuals, but Miracle Fruit will keep even the most experienced Somerville native entertained for an hour. The berries trick out your taste buds for a short time to make bitter and sour foods taste sweet. Take it away, wiki:

The berry contains an active glycoprotein molecule, with some trailing carbohydrate chains, called miraculin.[5][6] When the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, this molecule binds to the tongue’s taste buds, causing bitter and sour foods to taste sweet. While the exact cause for this change is unknown, one hypothesis is that the effect may be caused if miraculin works by distorting the shape of sweetness receptors “so that they become responsive to acids, instead of sugar and other sweet things.”[3] This effect lasts between thirty minutes and two hours.

All 30 tickets for the tasting sold out this week, but I spoke with the store last night and they’ve got 6 more tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis. Just show them the loot ($15) and you’ll get a spot for the tasting.

If you want to learn more about the history of Magic Berries, check out this interview from Democracy Now. The story behind the guy who tried to bring them to the US in the 70s is actually incredibly interesting (high-speed car chases, espionage, industrial sabotage etc.).