Jamaican Orange Remedy

About

Jamaican Orange Remedy refers to an alleged Jamaican remedy for returning your sense of taste and smell after having lost them to COVID-19. The remedy involves burning an orange, peeling it, crushing and mixing it with brown sugar, and eating it. Trying the remedy became a trend on TikTok in late 2020. According to professionals, it is unlikely this actually works.

Origin

On December 9th, 2020, toosmxll uploaded a video to TikTok^[1] in which he films himself making what he claims to be a Jamaican remedy to restore your taste buds, however, the roots of the cure are unconfirmed (shown below, left). He starts by balancing an orange over a lit burner and burning it until the whole thing is black. He then cuts it open and peels all the burnt skin off, puts the orange in a cup, and mashes it with a fork. He then puts about 2 teaspoons of brown sugar in the cup and mixes it together. The video gained over 22.8 million views and 3.8 million likes in a month, with many users commenting on the post claiming they tried it and it worked. On December 10th, toosmxll uploaded an update video^[2] (shown below, right) clarifying that you must eat the orange when hot, and that more brown sugar helps (about 5 teaspoons). He also encourages users to try the method again if it doesn't work the first time.

Spread

Toosmxll's video inspired other TikTok users to try the remedy and post videos sharing their results. On December 15th, tiktoksofiesworld uploaded a video to TikTok^[3] making and eating the remedy, then tasting Dijon Mustard an hour later, concluding that it worked (shown below, left). The video gained over 6 million views in under a month. On December 18th, freakystylea4 uploaded a video making the remedy to TikTok,^[4] garnering over 9.9 million views in a comparable span of time (shown below, right). As of Jaunary 2021 these are the most popular videos under the hashtag #jamaicanremedy.

On December 20th, Facebook user Rayna Dixon posted, "YOU HAVE TO KEEP DOING IT but I can faintly taste and smell" along with a series of screenshots from another Facebook^[5] claiming that she tried the remedy and it worked, and explaining how to prepare it (shown below). The post gained over 14,000 shares and 2,800 comments in under a month.

Legitimacy

On December 17th, 2020, TODAY^[6] published an article titled, "Could eating a burnt orange revive senses after a COVID-19 infection?" in which the writer details the trend and notes that the supposed Jamaican origins of the remedy have yet to be confirmed, as there is no information on the remedy available before toosmxll's video. The article also features quotes from researcher Pamela Dalton of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, who says it's unlikely the remedy works, claiming the placebo effect as a possibility for those who report positive results, or a coincidence, as their sense of taste was probably returning anyways to some capacity. On December 22nd, SHAPE^[7] published an article doubling-down on the illegitimacy of the remedy, claiming it to be harmless to eat burnt orange yet unlikely that it works.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References