Miracle Fruit: Ultimate 'Flavor Tripper' Changes Sour to Sweet
A tiny crimson “miracle fruit,” native to West Africa, could make sour foods taste sweet. Researchers revealed Monday the mystery behind the miracle berry, which looks like a cranberry.
Though tasteless at first, juices from the fruit coated one’s mouth and when sour foods such as limes, lemons, or vinegar were consumed – it tasted sweet.
Major media outlets have described the berry as a psychedelic for your taste buds and the ultimate “flavor tripper.”
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The fruit, also called Synsepalum dulcificum, is derived from the West African plant Richardella dulcificia.
Author of “The Fruit Hunters,” which included sections on the miracle berry, Adam Gollner told Discovery News the sour-to-sweet change was “exhilarating.”
“It’s almost like this thing that you can’t understand that is happening to you. That sense of incomprehensibility is a great feeling,” Gollner stated.
According to Discovery News, the key ingredient in the fruit was a protein called miraculin, which strongly bonded to the sweet taste receptors on a person’s tongue.
The protein does not activate the receptors at neutral pH.
When acid was introduced, miraculin changed shape – igniting the sweet receptors it was bound to and creating a sensation of ultra-sweet taste. The transformation occurred without affecting other flavors of the food.
Miraculin remains bound to the sweet receptor for up to an hour, ready to receive a new acid trigger. The molecule’s lasting effect is explained by its strong binding to the sweet receptors.
Keiko Abe, professor of applied biological chemistry at the University of Tokyo, headed research on the miraculous berry along with other researchers in Japan and France.
But what are some potential purposes for the berry?
The substance may also prove to be a new replacement for sugar said researchers.
“Practically, it is important to use miraculin as a sourness modifier which could improve the flavors of vinegars, citrus fruits and other sour functional foods, Abe has said.
In the meantime, the miracle fruit is being served in some restaurants in Japan and the production of the purified miraculini protein is being pursued.
Abe added, "Industrially, we are interested in a large-scale production of miraculin because it has a good, sucrose-like taste and combines a non-caloric property, since developing a safe sweetener for anti-diabetes and anti-obesity uses is of pressing importance.”
Research findings are published in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
