For thousands of years, humans have relied highly on the products of nature to provide for what they need. Whether it is for clothing, shelter, medicine, and food, plants have been essential in the survival of man and the development of civilization. Furthermore, plants have been important food sources, where both taste and nutrition are factors that determine how useful they can be to man. Over the past four decades, a fruit called the miracle berry has changed the way humans interpret tastes. Read on to learn why this berry, or the miracle fruit, has been a subject of interest then and even until the present day.

The miracle fruit is known under the species name Synsepalum dulcificum another name of which is Richadella dulcifica, and with the botanical classification of family Sapotaceae. This plant is related to other known edible food sources like star apple, chicle, and shea. It was in the 1700's when French cartographer and explorer Chevalier de Marchais discovered the miracle berry shrub as it grew on the West African coast. This plant species grows up to about 18 feet, and bears red berries from 2 to 3 centimeters in diameter.

The earliest known documentation's of the miracle berry noted that the natives, as well as the discoverers, liked to chew on the sweet pulp of the fruit before meals. This was because the fruit provided an extraordinary effect on the tongue, much like a flavor enhancer. In short, sour and bitter foods tasted sweet when the tongue is coated by the juices of the miracle berry.

Hundreds of years later, scientists attempted to further investigate what was behind this amazing taste effect offered by the extracts of the miracle berry. It was in the 1970's to the 1980's where protein analysis and laboratory research were able to isolate the protein responsible for the sweetening effect of miracle fruit, and aptly named this protein miraculin. During this decade, many experiments on primates and other mammals were done, to determine how miraculin changes the animals' behavior and preference for food. True enough, these animal studies were able to prove that miraculin somehow made citrus foods and acidic flavors more palatable.

Later on, the practical application of miraculin from the miracle fruit was investigated. At that time, people were looking for alternatives to sugar, because of diseases like diabetes and hyperglycemia. Sweeteners from stevia plants and even from aspartic acid were developed, and more sugar alternatives are being studied. There are people who would chew the miraculin tablets before tasting foods like wine, beer, and citrus fruits.

Miraculin is now being made in tablet or freeze dried form, and many have been enjoying the sweet taste it offered to various foods and beverages. There are currently many manufacturers in Asia and in other parts of the world that produce and export the tablets made from miracle fruit extracts. Currently, the health effects and health benefits offered by using miraculin as a sugar alternative are still being studied.

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