What is Miracle Fruit?

The Miracle Fruit Plant was first 'discovered' back in 1725. Also known as the Miracle Berry, Magic Berry, or Flavor Berry, it's 'official' names are Sideroxylon dulcificum or Synsepalum dulcificum.

On his travels in West Africa in 1752, the French explorer Chevalier Des Marchais noticed that local tribes people would eat miracle fruit berries before eating their traditionally sour tasting foods. Curious, he sampled the fruit himself and discovered that previous sour or bitter tasting foods now tasted sweet.

Impressed as he was, Des Marchais made no 'claim' to the fruit. It took till the 20th Century for this tasty wonder to be properly identified and it's active ingredient named as "Miraculin".

But the 'miraculous fruit' didn’t migrate beyond Africa until the early 20th century, when USDA employee David Fairchild introduced it to the United States. David Fairchild was appointed as head of a newly established Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction in 1898. In this position he was involved in coordinating the activities of plant explorers and in establishing acclimatization gardens in different regions of the USA. He also helped secure the leasing and purchasing of land for trials in the USA and Puerto Rico.

It was in Puerto Rico that the first miracle fruit plants were grown ... and forgotten, till the 1960's.

Research did quietly continue though, and the active ingredient in miracle fruit was identified and named "Miraculin" by the Japanese scientist Prof. Kenzo Kurihara.

In the late 1960's that a group of American businessmen then tried to launch Miraculin as a food additive for diabetics.

The story now becomes far from sweet - with conspiracy theories implying that major sugar producers helped to get Miraculin 'buried'. Miracle fruit and Miraculin were to wait another 30+ years to gain attention from a bizarre source!

Despite much research, it's not possible to find the first bartender to use miracle fruit ... but it's down to adventurous bartenders, and their love of making exciting and novel cocktails that has brought miracle fruit back in to the limelight.

From there, word steadily spread, and the many and expanding 'uses' for miracle berries continues to grow.

 

Miracle Fruit- Science ...

Miracle fruit berries contain a glycoprotein with some trailing carbohydrate chains, which coats the tongue's taste buds, and changes the taste buds’ perceptions of acidity to sweet.

Named Miraculin, the maximum sweet-induced response has been shown to be equivalent to the sweetness of a 17% sucrose solution.

Miraculin is approved in Japan as a harmless additive, according to the List of Existing Food Additives published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (published by JETRO).

 

Miracle Fruit - Usage ...

Miracle fruit (fresh or tablet) must be allowed to have up to a minute's contact on the tongue.

Tablets should be allowed to dissolve slowly on the tongue, letting the resulting 'juice' coat as much of the tongue as possible (especially towards the back of the tongue).

For best effects, rinse your mouth out well with water before taking. If you are a smoker, wait between 30 and 45 minutes before trying. The 'cleaner' your mouth - the better the results!

The resulting taste sensations last on average between 30 minutes to 2 hours

 

Buy Miracle Fruit Tablets ...

All our Miracle Fruit tablets only use Miracle Fruit grown in Ghana. Currently as with every other Miracle tablet seller, our tablets are made up to the highest standards in Taiwan, and shipped to us regularly, so our stock is always fresh (tablets have a 12 month shelf life).

As well as low introductory prices, regular customers also receive a loyalty discount!

Buy your Miracle Fruit tablets online here ...