We have a small miracle fruit plant growing in the Food Forest. No one is allowed to pick the berries without supervision so we can experience the miracle together. Today on the last day of garden club, Mr. Hanson brought a bag of lemons and we got to experience the before and after taste transformation. We all took a bite out a slice of the lemons to taste the sourness of the citrus. Then we ate the fruit from the miracle berry and tried the lemon again. It was amazingly sweet, without any lingering sourness.
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| Sophia, Kayleigh, Kala taking a bite out of miracle berry. No sour faces here! |
About the Miracle Fruit from Wikipedia:
Synsepalum dulcificum is a plant known for its berry that, when eaten, causes sour foods (such as lemons and limes) subsequently consumed to taste sweet. This effect is due to miraculin. Common names for this species and its berry include miracle fruit,[2] miracle berry, miraculous berry,[2] sweet berry,[3][4][5] and in West Africa, where the species originates, agbayun,[6] taami, asaa, and ledidi.
The berry itself has a low sugar content[7] and a mildly sweet tang. It contains a glycoprotein molecule, with some trailing carbohydrate chains, called miraculin.[8][9] When the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, this molecule binds to the tongue's taste buds, causing sour foods to taste sweet. At neutral pH, miraculin binds and blocks the receptors, but at low pH (resulting from ingestion of sour foods) miraculin binds proteins and becomes able to activate the sweet receptors, resulting in the perception of sweet taste.[10] This effect lasts until the protein is washed away by saliva (up to about 30 minutes).[11]
The names miracle fruit and miracle berry are shared by Gymnema sylvestre and Thaumatococcus daniellii,[2] which are two other species of plant used to alter the perceived sweetness of foods.
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