The Miracle Berry has become the object of cult obsession
these days, particularly in cities such as New York City,
where people hold taste tripping parties based on the
fruit's properties. The berry itself comes from a small
shrubby plant native to West Africa. The miracle berry was
first described by a French cartographer whose 1725 trip to
West Africa included documenting native foods. He found
that the West African native diet comprised a few basic
foods, none of them sweet. Soups, bread and fermented palm
beer and wine were all extremely sour. He found that
Synsepalum dulcificum, the scientific name for the Miracle
Berry plant, was commonly used by West African tribes to
enhance the taste of their food.
In the 1960s, Robert Harvey, a biomedical postgraduate
student, learned about the miracle berry and immediately
understood the magnitude of its potential uses. Harvey
founded the Miralin Company to grow the berry in Jamaica
and Puerto Rico, extract its active ingredient in
laboratories in Hudson, Massachusetts, and market it across
the United States. At first, Harvey aimed his products at
diabetics. He was spurred on by the commercial value of a
non-harmful ingredient that could make diet foods taste
better and possibly become a substitute for other
artificial sugars that were both less effective and left a
strong aftertaste.
Harvey worked closely with the FDA during this period with
the expectation that the FDA would list miraculin under the
heading of "generally considered to be safe" based on its
West African history. Inexplicably, on the eve of Harvey's
launch of the product in 1974, the FDA issued a ruling that
labeled the berry extract as a food additive which meant
that years of testing would be required before the product
could be sold in the United States. Many believed that the
powerful sugar lobby played a role in preventing miracle
berry extract from entering the marketplace to compete with
both sugar and artificial sugars. Harvey's company folded
and the miracle berry returned to relative obscurity until
recently.
Today, the miracle berry is viewed as a bit of a party
novelty and a cottage industry has grown up around growing
the plant and supplying berries to those with a taste for
the unusual. The bright red miracle berry is ¾ inch
to 1 inch long and oblong shaped. One of its primary
active ingredients is a glycoprotein named miraculin.
Miraculin binds to taste receptors in the tongue,
"tricking" them into experiencing acidic tastes as sweet
tastes. Lemons, for example, taste like lemon candy.
Miraculin's masking effect on taste buds is temporary,
typically lasting 30 minutes or so. To experience the
miraculin effect, a person either scrapes some of the pulp
and seed away from the fruit and chews it or takes
miraculin extract in powder or pill form. Berry aficionados
organize tasting parties that include one berry per
partygoer and a buffet table full of interesting foods to
try such as sour pickles, vinegar, beer, limes, grapefruit
and so on. New York City residents have become particularly
drawn to the taste tripping party. The altered tastes are
not always predictable. Some foods taste great, some are
unaffected and others are spoiled by miraculin's
transforming powers. Google the fruit to find lots of
suggestions for foods to try with it and foods to stay away
from. Internet writers note that:
Grapefruit - candy Honey Dew - brings out the soft subtle
flavors
Cantaloupe - like honey dew, one time with miracle fruit
and you're a fan of these fruits for life
Granny Apple - best apple of your life
Strawberries - makes bad berries good; right off the vine
good
Broccoli - amazingly the cooked stems taste like artichoke
hearts
Radish - no difference in taste or intensity
Coconut - has no taste
Goat's cheese - tastes like cream cheese frosting
Ketchup tastes like marmalade
Tomato concentrate is even sweeter than ketchup
Plain yogurt tastes like a good fruit yogurt. No additives
needed, phenomenal for a diet
Tabasco sauce - tastes like donut glaze
The miracle berry may well be a big help to dieters and
diabetics. Turning good-for-you fruits like lemons and
grapefruits into candy-like treats and transforming a sour
Granny Smith apple into the best apple of your life could
really help people stick to eating regimens that are
otherwise difficult to tolerate. Similarly, healthier goat
cheese (lower in calories, fat and cholesterol than cream
cheese) gets a major taste boost from miraculin so that it
tastes like cream cheese. Cottage cheese reportedly tastes
like cake filling which would certainly boost its standing
as a "diet food".
The general notion is that miracle berries are completely
safe. However, it's not entirely clear why there seems to
be such a strong sentiment about safety since there have
not been any long term studies of the berry's effect on
people. On the other hand, people in West Africa have been
consuming the berries for centuries with no anecdotally
reported ill effects. Interestingly, one of the problems
with using the miracle berry to sweeten very acidic foods
is that by masking the acidity and making the food much
more appealing, some people have experienced mouth sores
and gastrointestinal problems from ingesting too much acid.
One side note on usage - because miraculin is a protein, it
breaks down when heated so its properties are destroyed by
cooking. So, your use of the miracle berry is limited to
ingesting some before eating the food with a taste you want
to alter.
The most difficult part of the miracle berry phenomenon is
obtaining the berries. The fruit does not travel well,
becoming unusable after only a few days, so most people
obtain the berries by overnight shipments from southern
growers or by purchasing berry extract in powder or pill
form. The extraction process preserves the berry's taste
transforming feature but, because it's an expensive
process, the pills or powder are pricey. The same is true
for the berries. In addition, the shrubby plant that
produces the miracle berry is quite delicate and requires a
warm, controlled environment for best production. So,
while you can find the miracle berry or its extract online,
you will pay a handsome price, $2-3 per berry and over $1
per extract pill. No one has yet figured out how to grow,
process and distribute miracle berries at a commercially
viable price.
If you try it and get hooked on them, make a try at growing
your own for a low-cost, high quality supply. It's
possible to buy miracle berry seed and grow your own but be
warned that this is not an easy plant to cultivate. In
addition to requiring a warm, humid environment, the plant
takes weeks to germinate and only about 25% of the seeds
actually do germinate. If you would like to try growing
the miracle berry plant, you may want to start with a plant
that has been started in a nursery. The plant starts
producing fruit after about two years. Google "buy miracle
berry plant" for links to nurseries. You might also try
www.thermoplanter.com, a site that sells a root warming
planter that will provide both the warmth and the humidity
the plant needs to make the growing process less rigorous.
The miracle berry really is a bit miraculous in its effect
and is certainly a good bit of fun as well. Ultimately it
may even turn out to be beneficial to both dieters and
diabetics.
----------------------------------------------------
The article "The Miracle Berry Could Be A Miracle For
Dieters & Diabetics" may be found in its entirety on
http://HealthWorldNet.com
EasyPublish this article: http://submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=59037
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