The Miracle Berry:
Available in the Bakery department for $13.99 per box of 10 tablets$5 a piece (fresh berry) in our Bakery Department
When eaten, the miracle berry causes sour foods subsequently eaten to taste sweet. This effect lasts 15-60 minutes. The miracle berry plant, known in Latin as Synsepalum dulcificum is native to West Africa and grows in bushes up to 20 feet high in its native habitat, but does not usually grow higher than ten feet in cultivation. It produces two crops per year, after the end of the rainy season. It is an evergreen plant that produces small red berries, with flowers that are white and which are produced for many months of the year. The seeds are about the size of coffee beans.
The berry contains an active glycoprotein molecule called miraculin. When the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, this molecule binds to the tongue's taste buds, causing sour foods to taste sweet. While the exact cause for this change is unknown, one hypothesis is that the effect is caused by the miraculin molecule distorting the shape of sweetness receptors in the tongue so that they become responsive to acids, instead of sugar and other sweet things.
