Filed under: Fruit, Food News

My grandmother likes to tell a story about how she was hypnotized in a stage show. Under hypnosis, she ate a lemon and thought it was an apple. It's hard to imagine doing that and not noticing the difference. However, with the miracle fruit, we all could be eating slices of lemon for dessert.

Slashfood blogger Emily Matcher wrote yesterday about the New York Times article on the miracle fruit. If you missed it, the miracle of the fruit is not that it cures cancer or creates world peace - it makes sour foods taste sweet.

As described on Wikipedia, "when the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, this molecule [miraculin] binds to the tongue's taste buds, causing bitter and sour foods (such as lemons and limes) consumed later to taste sweet. This effect lasts between thirty minutes and two hours."

The miracle fruit is by no means a new discovery. It has been eaten for centuries in West Africa. Back in 2005, The Guardian wrote about a cafe in Japan where diners start the meal with a single miracle fruit and then proceed to eat dishes with 100 calories or less and love them!

Why haven't we seen the miracle fruit in diet products everywhere? The facts aren't clear. However, there is a BBC article that describes how an attempt to bring miracle fruit products to the US market was surprisingly and suddenly shut down by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Want to try one? Miracle Connect sells the berries! They cost $24 for six. They recommend two per person for a dinner party.

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