Taste Tripping With Miracle Berries

Miracle Berries (Wikimedia Commons) Imagine eating a lemon and puckering to incredibly sour...no wait, incrediblysweet citrus syrup. Then you try some tart goat cheese, but to your surprise, it tastes like sugary frosting. An underripe pineapple? Better than candy. Salt and vinegar chips? Dessert! This fantastical taste-changing sensation is the real-life effect of a West African fruit called Synsepalum dulcificum (Richardella Dulcifica), or the “miracle berry”, which physically alters taste receptors and causes sour foods to taste sweet. How does this work? The secret is a protein found in miracle berries called miraculin.