Wikipedia: Miracle Fruit

Have you ever heard of miracle fruit?

An explorer named Marchais made the first western observation of miracle fruit during a trip to west Africa in 1725. Marchais noticed that local tribes picked the berry from shrubs and chewed it before meals.

The miracle part of miracle fruit is what it does to one's tastebuds.

For about thirty minutes after ingestion, it makes bitter foods taste sweet!

Note what Wikipedia has to say on the subject:

The berry is sweet, and contains an active glycoprotein molecule, with some trailing carbohydrate chains, called miraculin. When the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, this molecule binds to the tongue's taste buds, causing bitter and sour foods (such as lemons and limes) consumed later to taste sweet. This effect lasts between thirty minutes and two hours. It is not a sweetener, as its effects depend on what is eaten afterwards, but has been used to cause bitter medicine to taste sweet.

Amazing, huh?

Cancer patients have used freeze-dried miracle fruit tablets to remove the metallic taste from their mouths due to chemotherapy.

Check out today's FamilyFirst pick and learn more about the amazing miracle fruit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_fruit

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