Miraculin:
Miraculin is a basic glycoprotein that was extracted from the miracle fruit plant, a shrub that is native to West Africa (Synsepalum dulcificum or Richadella dulcifica). Miraculin itself is not sweet, but the human tongue, once exposed to miraculin, perceives ordinarily sour foods, such as citrus, as sweet for up to 2 h afterward. This small red berry has been used in West Africa to improve the taste of acidic foods. Since the miracle fruit itself has no distinct taste, this taste-modifying function of the fruit had been regarded as a miracle. The active substance, isolated by Kurihara, was named miraculin after the miracle fruit. [ScienceDirect compilation]
Noted in “Sweeteners: The bitter truth about low-calorie sugar substitutes,” David Cox, NewScientist (11 November 2023, paywall):
But perhaps we could one day get rid of sugar and its low-calorie mimics altogether, and still get a sweet hit. That is the promise of a range of sweet proteins found in the berries of various West African shrubs. These include brazzein, monellin and, the best known, miraculin, which comes from the [miracle] berry that made my lemon sweet.
Silly names, all of ’em.
