Have you ever heard of the miracle berry? This exotic West African fruit, has the astonishing ability to make bitter and sour foods taste sweet. The berry contains an active molecule that binds to the tongue's taste buds causing certain foods — like limes or lemons — to seem sweet. Although the fruit is not a sweetener, it does have the ability to turn non sweet foods into sweet foods without any additives! In the 1970s, an American entrepreneur, realized the potential the miracle berry could have on the food industry and went to great lengths to mass produce the plant. However, his plan was suspiciously and abruptly ended. A recent article from BBC News states:
In 1974, the FDA changed its mind about the Miracle Berry product on the very eve of the product launch in drug stores across the whole of the Eastern seaboard. In the most brutal way, the FDA ordered all the products to be withdrawn at once.
Thus, the sweetening powers of the miracle berry were never fully realized. I find the story incredibly interesting and would love to get my hands on the berries. Have you ever tasted the miracle berry? What would today's world be like if junk food without the junk existed?
Miss Sixty
My-Wardrobe.com
Anya Hindmarch
Very creative name lol.
1I was initially excited to hear about the miracle berry and its effect on taste buds. It could be a great way to cut sugar from sweets, and could be used to coat unpleasant-tasting medications. On the other hand, unscrupulous companies might use it to mask the sour taste of foods gone bad or the chemical flavor of some other additives. Our bodies react strongly to sour and bitter flavors as a way to warn us of potentially harmful substances, and without that reaction we might ingest things that aren't good for us. I, for one, don't like the idea of possibly drinking straight vinegar without knowing it. I'm only comfortable with the commercial use of these berries if the FDA closely regulates it.
2Hmmm, ..."his plan was suspiciously and abruptly ended."
You know the sugar cane/corn/beet lobby is very strong in this country don't ya.
3is miracle berry it's only name?
4I got a seedling miracle fruit plant on ebay shipped from Thailand. It will take a while to produce fruit, but I'm so excited! I have a terrible sweet tooth, so anything to help cut back on sugar/sweetener is fantastic.
5Sonnabobble - if you google it you can find the latin name. It's hard to remember.
6that's really cool that there's a fruit that can bind to your taste buds to make things more pleasant to eat. i wonder if it'll ever be relaunched to the masses?
7At first I thought you were referring to the acai berry, which is also a good one
8So neat!
9FDA does not regulate this berries in any way! They can be legally bought in the US, no restrictions whatosever (well, you cannot sell them as a food additive). I received my package from http://www.miraclefruitworld.com without any problems...
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