Miracle Fruit Could Change The World

The five senses are an amazing gift. It’s impossible to choose a favorite one, as there are some incredibly beautiful things on this Earth that you can see, smell, taste, touch and hear. It’s tough to argue that among the five, taste isn’t near the top. Sweet, sour, spicy: they all massage different points of our palettes in such uniquely great ways.

With every Sour Patch Kid and blueberry pie though, you have your vegetables and medication. Why does the stuff that’s best for you have to taste so bad? Well that might not be the case forever; did you know there’s a miracle berry that can manipulate your taste buds and make even the worst substances in life taste delicious?

Synsepalum dulcificum A.K.A. the miracle berry or miracle fruit, can bring the zany world of Alice in Wonderland to your taste buds. Brace yourself, because nothing tastes as it should. To experience the wonderous effects, you need just one berry, and you let it swish around on your tongue for about a minute.

Synsepalum dulcificum has a secret ingredient, the aptly named miraculin, which binds to our taste buds, bringing us to a whole new galaxy of taste. The outcome can be so drastic that it has been known to freak some people out. Lucky for them, the miraculin only lasts until our saliva washes it all down for good, which usually takes about an hour.

Like most world altering substances, miracle fruit is best eaten in groups. If you want to experience the sensation, throwing a flavor tripping party is recommended. It’s easy; just get enough miracle fruit for all of your buddies, and stock up on some not so tasty treats. Miraculin reacts best with the sour and bitter, transforming them into sweet. The best parties involve goat cheese, mustard, brussel srouts, vinegar, pickles, hot sauce, dark beer and cheap tequila. Pop in the berries together and prepare for amazement. Flavor tripping is an exciting break from the norm.

Synsepalum dulcificum is native to West Africa and has been used for at least three hundred years for just what you’d think, making the undesirable taste awesome. It can be beneficial to people with ailments such as diabetes and cancer. Its amazing ability to make the bland taste tantalizing while being sugar free and having minimal calories give it the potential to help the obese shed some weight. Unfortunately, the FDA denied entrepreneur Robert Harvey’s idea in the 1970s to mass produce and distribute miraculin based products across the United States. It’s speculated that this decision is due to the fact that the miracle fruit would’ve dealt a huge blow to the sugar industry, one that has claimed countless millions of helpless victims.

“If we had got beyond the diabetic market we could have been a multi-billion dollar company. We’d have displaced maybe millions of tons of sugar and lots of artificial sweeteners as well.” -Robert Harvey, Founder of Miralin Co.

Despite not currently reaching the masses as many had hoped, the miracle fruit can still be yours. Miracle berries can be purchased fresh online from Florida, but will usually run you $2-3 a piece due to their very short shelf life. There’s also a pill form that can duplicate the effect. Have you tried this miracle fruit before? What’d you think?

NY Times & BBC

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