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.