Miracle fruit

A couple of weeks ago, the miracle fruit bush in the arboretum was fruiting so I picked a couple of berries to taste. Miracle fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum) is a Sapotaceae native to West Africa and is very unique in that after eating a berry, all sour things taste super-sweet! I have tried miracle fruits before at the local Fruit and Spice Park down in Homestead and the effect is pretty amazing.

You chew on the fruit's pulp, letting it sit in your mouth for a bit before swallowing it, spit out the large seed, and start eating sour stuff. After eating this miracle fruit, I ate an unripe kumquat and it tasted sugary-sweet! People aren't exactly sure what the mechanism is behind this phenomenon, but it is generally thought that the protein miraculin (found in the fleshy part of the fruit) binds to certain taste buds and somehow this causes us to perceive sour as sweet -- it's pretty miraculous!