Miracle Fruit Fans

Cleanse your palate with a tall glass of before putting the miracle fruit in your mouth.

Pop the berry in your mouth, scrape the pulp off the seed, and chew. The miracle fruit needs to coat your mouth and tongue in order to have an effect, so swirl it around, and hold it in your mouth for about a minute. Once the juices have coated your mouth, swallow the pulp, but don’t eat the pit because apparently, it tastes pretty nasty!

What Does Miracle Fruit Taste Like?

It tastes surprisingly good. Some say it is like a tangy berry that tastes sort of like a sweetened cranberry. Others believe there’s not much of a flavor at all.

How Quickly Does Miracle Fruit Work?

Miracle fruit takes a few minutes to fully take effect.

When Does Miracle Fruit’s Effects Wear Off?

The effect can last somewhere between 15 minutes to 2 hours.

The miracle fruit, or miracle berry was first documented by the French explorer Chevalier des Marchais who travelled extensively along the west coast of Africa, the West Indies and the northwest coast of South America between 1704 and 1727, under service to the King of France.  During an excursion in 1725 in West Africa, des Marchais discovered the natives chewing the berry prior to consuming sour palm wine (beer) and fermented maize bread. 

There are no records of des Marchais’ attempts to lay claim to the fruit by naming it or even fully describing it.  It actually was not properly identified and named until the mid 19th century by Dr. W. F. Daniell who discovered it while being stationed in an outpost in West Africa.  Published in 1852 in the Pharmaceutical Journal, Vol. Xl, Dr. Daniell called it the “miraculous berry” with the Latin name, Synsepalum dulcificum.  It is a member of the Sapotaceae family, relative of the sapodilla (Manilkara zapota).

Founder of the Rare Fruit Council, William Whitman was the first to grow the plant successfully in the United States after experiencing first-hand during a tour of the Panama Canal Zone Summit Gardens.  The story of his encounter happened during a tour of the gardens in 1952.  The director of the gardens introduced Whitman to a five foot evergreen bush, covered with small, dark green leaves and red berries, the size of coffee beans. Whitman sampled the berries and found them rather nondescript and moved to the next specimen, a Key lime which the director declared was a rare and unique sweet lime.  Dubious, the skeptical Mr. Whitman tasted this rare lime and could not believe how incredibly sweet and delicious it tasted. Only after eating several more of these delightful sweet limes was he informed of the miracle fruit.

Miracle Fruit - makes sour taste sweet

The miracle fruit, or miracle berry, is a berry plant native to Ghana in west Africa. Once eaten, this small red berry makes sour foods like lemons, grapefruits, and limes taste sweet. Many who have tried the miracle fruit say a lemon tastes like a piece of lemon drop candy.

The Latin name for miracle fruit is Sideroxylon dulcificum, but it is also known as Synsepalum dulcificum. In addition to growing in its native west Africa, it has also been successfully cultivated in Florida, Hawaii, South America, and Australia. The plant grows in bushes up to 20 feet (6.1 m) high in its native habitat, but usually does not grow higher than ten feet in cultivation. The plant typically produces two crops a year, after the end of the rainy season. This evergreen plant, which produces small red berries the size of a coffee bean, also produces delicate white flowers that can be seen year round. The miracle fruit is highly perishable and must be eaten within 2-3 days once picked.

This exotic tropical berry contains an active glycoprotein molecule, with some trailing carbohydrate chains, called miraculin. When the fleshy part of the fruit is chewed, 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 theory is that the effect may be caused by miraculin distorting the shape or covering the sweetness receptors “so that they become responsive to acids, instead of sugar and other sweet things”. This effect can last from 15 minutes to 2 hours for some.