Miraculin -- component of "miracle fruit"
 

Hello RFC'ers,

I was listening to this broadcast on NPR today:


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...sourceCode=RSS


How interesting -- a fruit from an indigenous West-African shrub that
makes our taste buds detect sweetness when eating sour foods. IIRC
from the broadcast, it makes lemons taste like lemonade, and pickles
taste like honey. Not sure the latter is all that desirable, but this
magic component, "miraculin," could be a very interesting ingredient
in future recipes.


A few more links to info about this "miracle fruit" ingredient:

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

http://www.answers.com/topic/miraculin

http://expasy.org/spotlight/back_issues/sptlt017.shtml/


Now, my question for RFC is: Do you think this substance will be a
significant ingredient in recipes in the future? I have a terrible
sweet tooth, which shows itself in extra poundage on my body, and a
substance that makes me think I'm eating sweets when I'm not might be
kind of cool...

Anyone else curious about this "miracle" substance?

Cheers,

Adilah