miracle berries anyone from kalat j w biological psychology wadsworth publishing co belmont ca pg reproduced without permission digression miracle berries and the modification of taste receptors although the miracle berry a plant native to west africa is practically tasteless it temporarily changes the taste of other substances miracle berries contain a protein miraculin that modifies sweet receptors in such a way that they can be stimulated by acids bartoshuk gentile moskowitz meiselman if you ever get a chance to chew a miracle berry and i do recommend it for about the next half an hour all acids which are normally sour will taste sweet they will continue to taste sour as well miraculin was for a time commercially available in the united states as a diet aid the idea was that dieters could coat their tongue with a miraculin pill and then eat and drink unsweetened slightly acidic substances such substances would taste sweet without providing many calories a colleague and i once spent an evening experimenting with miracle berries we drank straight lemon juice sauerkraut juice even vinegar all tasted extremely sweet somehow we forgot how acidic these substances are we awoke the next day to find our mouths full of ulcers continued discussion of a couple other taste altering substances refs bartoshuk l m gentile r l moskowitz h r meiselman h l sweet taste induced by miracle fruit synsephalum dulcificum physiology behavior anyone ever hear of these things or know where to get them marc andersom spot colorado edu
