Synsepalum dulcificum

Last updated

Synsepalum dulcificum
MiracleBerry.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Sapotaceae
Genus: Synsepalum
Species:
S. dulcificum
Binomial name
Synsepalum dulcificum
Synonyms [2]

Bakeriella dulcifica(Schumach. & Thonn.) Dubard
Bumelia dulcifica uSchumach. & Thonn.
Pouteria dulcifica(Schumach. & Thonn.) Baehni
Richardella dulcifica(Schumach. & Thonn.) Baehni
Sideroxylon dulcificum(Schumach. & Thonn.) A.DC.
Synsepalum glycydoraWernham

Contents

Synsepalum dulcificum is a plant in the Sapotaceae family, native to tropical Africa. It is known for its berry that, when eaten, causes sour foods (such as lemons and limes) subsequently consumed to taste sweet. This effect is due to miraculin. Common names for this species and its berry include miracle fruit, [3] miracle berry, miraculous berry, [3] sweet berry, [4] [5] [6] and in West Africa, where the species originates, àgbáyun (in Yoruba), [7] [8] taami, asaa, and ledidi.

The berry itself has a low sugar content [9] and a mildly sweet tang. It contains a glycoprotein molecule, with some trailing carbohydrate chains, called miraculin. [10] When the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, this molecule binds to the tongue's taste buds, causing sour foods to taste sweet. At neutral pH, miraculin binds and blocks the receptors, but at low pH (resulting from ingestion of sour foods) miraculin binds proteins and becomes able to activate the sweet receptors, resulting in the perception of sweet taste. [11] This effect lasts until the protein is washed away by saliva (up to about 30 minutes). [12]

The names miracle fruit and miracle berry are shared by Gymnema sylvestre and Thaumatococcus daniellii , [3] which are two other species used to alter the perceived sweetness of foods.

History

The berry has been used in West Africa for a long time. It is a part of the diet of the Yoruba people. [7] Outsiders began learning this fruit since at least the 18th century, when a European explorer, the Chevalier des Marchais, provided an account of its use there. Des Marchais, who was searching West Africa for many different fruits in a 1725 excursion, noticed that local people picked the berry from shrubs and chewed it before meals.

In the 1980s in the United States, an attempt was made to commercialize the fruit for its ability to mask non-sweet foods as sweet without a caloric cost, but became compromised when the Food and Drug Administration classified the berry as a food additive and required evidence of safety. [9] [13] [14] For a time in the 1970s, US dieters could purchase a pill form of miraculin. [15] This interest had a revival in food-tasting events at which tasters consume sour and bitter foods, such as lemons, radishes, pickles, hot sauce, and beer, then experience the perceived change to sweetness with miraculin. [16]

Characteristics

It is a shrub that grows 1.8–4.5 m (5.9–14.8 ft) in height and has dense foliage. [17] [18] Its leaves are 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) long, 2.0–3.7 cm (0.79–1.46 in) wide, and glabrous below. They are clustered at the ends of the branchlets. The flowers are white. It carries red, 2 cm (0.79 in) long fruits. Each fruit contains one seed. [5]

Cultivation

Small specimen in a botanic garden Starr 980529-4175 Synsepalum dulcificum.jpg
Small specimen in a botanic garden

The plant grows best in soils with a pH as low as 4.5 to 5.8, in an environment free from frost and in partial shade with high humidity. It is tolerant of drought, full sunshine, and slopes. [5]

The seeds need 14 to 21 days to germinate. A spacing of 4 m (13 ft) between plants is suggested. [5]

The plants first bear fruit after growing about 3–4 years, [5] and produce two crops per year, after the end of the rainy season. This evergreen plant produces small, red berries, while white flowers are produced for many months of the year.

The seeds are about the size of coffee beans.

In Africa, leaves are attacked by lepidopterous larvae, and fruits are infested with larvae of fruit flies. The fungus Rigidoporus microporus has been found on this plant. [5]

Transgenic tomato plants have been developed in research projects that produce miraculin. [19] [20]

Uses and regulation

In tropical West Africa, where this species originates, the fruit pulp is used to sweeten palm wine. [21] Historically, it was also used to improve the flavor of soured cornbread, [8] but has been used as a sweetener and flavoring agent for diverse beverages and foods, such as beer, cocktails, vinegar, and pickles. [22]

Since 2011, the United States FDA has imposed a ban on importing Synsepalum dulcificum (specifying 'miraculin') from its origin in Taiwan, declaring it as an "illegal undeclared sweetener". However the ban does not apply when it is imported from other countries. [23] In 2021, the company Baïa Food Co. in Spain was granted to put Dried Miracle Berry on the market in the EU. [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stevia</span> Sweetener and sugar substitute

Stevia is a sweet sugar substitute that is about 50 to 300 times sweeter than sugar. It is extracted from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana, a plant native to areas of Paraguay and Brazil in the southern Amazon rainforest. The active compounds in stevia are steviol glycosides. Stevia is heat-stable, pH-stable, and not fermentable. Humans cannot metabolize the glycosides in stevia, and therefore it has zero calories. Its taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, and at high concentrations some of its extracts may have an aftertaste described as licorice-like or bitter. Stevia is used in sugar- and calorie-reduced food and beverage products as an alternative for variants with sugar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kola nut</span> Fruit of the kola tree

The kola nut is the seed of certain species of plant of the genus Cola, placed formerly in the cocoa family Sterculiaceae and now usually subsumed in the mallow family Malvaceae. These cola species are trees native to the tropical rainforests of Africa. Their caffeine-containing seeds are about 5 centimetres (2.0 in) across and are used as flavoring ingredients in various carbonated soft drinks, from which the name cola originates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melon</span> Type of fruit

A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". The word melon derives from Latin melopepo, which is the latinization of the Greek μηλοπέπων (mēlopepōn), meaning "melon", itself a compound of μῆλον (mēlon), "apple", treefruit " and πέπων (pepōn), amongst others "a kind of gourd or melon". Many different cultivars have been produced, particularly of cantaloupes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guava</span> Tropical fruit

Guava is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava Psidium guajava is a small tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. The name guava is also given to some other species in the genus Psidium such as strawberry guava and to the pineapple guava, Feijoa sellowiana. In 2019, 55 million tonnes of guavas were produced worldwide, led by India with 45% of the total. Botanically, guavas are berries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thaumatin</span> Low-calorie sweetener and flavor modifier

Thaumatin is a low-calorie sweetener and flavor modifier. The protein is often used primarily for its flavor-modifying properties and not exclusively as a sweetener.

<i>Passiflora edulis</i> Species of flowering plant in the passion flower family Passifloraceae

Passiflora edulis, commonly known as passion fruit, is a vine species of passion flower native to the region of southern Brazil through Paraguay to northern Argentina. It is cultivated commercially in tropical and subtropical areas for its sweet, seedy fruit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monellin</span> Protein

Monellin, a sweet protein, was discovered in 1969 in the fruit of the West African shrub known as serendipity berry ; it was first reported as a carbohydrate. The protein was named in 1972 after the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, U.S.A., where it was isolated and characterized.

<i>Stevia rebaudiana</i> Species of flowering plant

Stevia rebaudiana is a plant species in the genus Stevia of the family Asteraceae. It is commonly known as candyleaf, sweetleaf or sugarleaf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miraculin</span> A protein from West Africa with taste-modifying activity

Miraculin is a taste modifier, a glycoprotein extracted from the fruit of Synsepalum dulcificum. The berry, also known as the miracle fruit, was documented by explorer Chevalier des Marchais, who searched for many different fruits during a 1725 excursion to its native West Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweetness</span> Basic taste

Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketones, and sugar alcohols. Some are sweet at very low concentrations, allowing their use as non-caloric sugar substitutes. Such non-sugar sweeteners include saccharin, aspartame, sucralose and stevia. Other compounds, such as miraculin, may alter perception of sweetness itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brazzein</span> Protein

Brazzein is a protein found in the West African fruit of Oubli. It was first isolated by the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1994.

<i>Spondias mombin</i> Species of tree

Spondias mombin, also known as yellow mombin, hog plum, amra or cajazeira, is a species of tree and flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to the tropical Americas, including the West Indies. The tree was introduced by the Portuguese in South Asia in the beginning of the 17th century. It has been naturalized in parts of Africa, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, The Bahamas, Indonesia, and other Caribbean islands. It is rarely cultivated except in parts of the Brazilian Northeast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curculin</span> Sweet protein from Malaysia with taste-modifying activity

Curculin or neoculin is a sweet protein that was discovered and isolated in 1990 from the fruit of Curculigo latifolia (Hypoxidaceae), a plant from Malaysia. Like miraculin, curculin exhibits taste-modifying activity; however, unlike miraculin, it also exhibits a sweet taste by itself. After consumption of curculin, water and sour solutions taste sweet. The plant is referred to locally as 'Lumbah' or 'Lemba'.

<i>Pentadiplandra</i> Genus of flowering plants

Pentadiplandra brazzeana is an evergreen shrub or liana that is the only species assigned to the genus Pentadiplandra, and has been placed in a family of its own called Pentadiplandraceae. It produces large red berries, sometimes mottled with grey. It is known from West-Central Tropical Africa, between northern Angola, eastern Nigeria and western Democratic Republic of Congo. The berry is sweet in taste due to the protein, brazzein, which is substantially sweeter than saccharose. Brazzein may be useful as a low-calorie sweetener, but is not yet allowed as a food additive in the United States and the European Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentadin</span>

Pentadin, a sweet-tasting protein, was discovered and isolated in 1989, in the fruit of oubli, a climbing shrub growing in some tropical countries of Africa. Sweet tasting proteins are often used in the treatment of diabetes, obesity, and other metabolic disorders that one can experience. These proteins are isolated from the pulp of various fruits, typically found in rain forests and are also used as low calorie sweeteners that can enhance and modify existing foods.

<i>Thaumatococcus daniellii</i> Species of flowering plant

Thaumatococcus daniellii, also known as miracle fruit or miracle berry, is a plant species from tropical Africa of the Marantaceae family. It is a large, rhizomatous, flowering herb native to the rainforests of western Africa in Sierra Leone, southeast to Gabon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is also an introduced species in Australia and Singapore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pitaya</span> Fruit of several cactus species

A pitaya or pitahaya is the fruit of several different cactus species indigenous to the region of southern Mexico and along the Pacific coasts of Guatemala, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. Pitaya is cultivated in East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the United States, the Caribbean, Australia, Brazil, and throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

Magical fruit may refer to:

<i>Curculigo</i> Genus of flowering plants

Curculigo is a flowering plant genus in the family Hypoxidaceae, first described in 1788. It is widespread across tropical regions of Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas.

References

  1. Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) & IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group (2018). "Synsepalum dulcificum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2018: e.T87719610A147296202. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  2. "Synsepalum dulcificum (Schumach. & Thonn.) Daniell". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 Wiersema, John Harry; León, Blanca (1999). World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference. CRC Press. p. 661. ISBN   0-8493-2119-0.
  4. Peter Hanelt, ed. (2001). Mansfeld's encyclopedia of agricultural and horticultural crops. Vol. 2. Springer. p. 1660. ISBN   3-540-41017-1. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 James A. Duke, Judith L. DuCellier, ed. (1993). CRC handbook of alternative cash crops. CRC Press. pp. 433–434. ISBN   0-8493-3620-1.
  6. John C. Roecklein, PingSun Leung, ed. (1987). A Profile of economic plants. Transaction Publishers. p. 412. ISBN   0-88738-167-7.
  7. 1 2 Bascom, William R. (January 1951). "Yoruba Food". Africa. 20 (1). Cambridge University Press: 47. doi:10.2307/1156157. JSTOR   1156157. S2CID   149837516.
  8. 1 2 Plant inventory. Vol. 58: Seeds and plants imported. United States Department of Agriculture. 1919. p. 42.
  9. 1 2 Levin, Rachel B. (23 June 2009). "Ancient Berry, Modern Miracle: The Sweet Benefits of Miracle Fruit". thefoodpaper.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  10. McCurry, Justin (25 November 2005). "Miracle berry lets Japanese dieters get sweet from sour". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 29 August 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
  11. Koizumi A, Tsuchiya A, Nakajima K, Ito K, Terada T, Shimizu-Ibuka A, Briand L, Asakura T, Misaka T, Abe K (2011). "Human sweet taste receptor mediates acid-induced sweetness of miraculin". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 108 (40): 16819–24. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1016644108 . PMC   3189030 . PMID   21949380.
  12. Park, Madison (25 March 2009). "Miracle fruit turns sour things sweet". CNN. Archived from the original on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 25 March 2009.
  13. Mangold, Tom (28 April 2008). "Sweet and sour tale of the miracle berry". The Week. Archived from the original on 16 November 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  14. "The miracle berry". BBC. 28 April 2008. Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
  15. Rowe, Aaron (7 December 2006). "Super Lettuce Turns Sour Sweet". Wired Magazine. Archived from the original on 31 August 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2008.
  16. Farrell, Patrick; Kassie Bracken (28 May 2008). "A Tiny Fruit That Tricks the Tongue". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 12 June 2008. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
  17. Inglett, G. E.; Dowling, B.; Albrecht, J. J.; Hoglan, F. A. (1965). "Taste Modifiers, Taste-Modifying Properties of Miracle Fruit (Synsepalum Dulcificum)". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 13 (3): 284–287. doi:10.1021/jf60139a026.
  18. Inglett, G. E.; May, J. F. (1968). "Tropical plants with unusual taste properties". Economic Botany. 22 (4): 326–331. doi:10.1007/BF02908127. S2CID   44903479.
  19. Hirai, Tadayoshi; Go Fukukawa; Hideo Kakuta; Naoya Fukuda; Hiroshi Ezura (2010). "Production of Recombinant Miraculin Using Transgenic Tomatoes in a Closed Cultivation System". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 58 (10): 6096–6101. doi:10.1021/jf100414v. ISSN   0021-8561. PMID   20426470.
  20. Sun, Hyeon-Jin; Hiroshi Kataoka; Megumu Yano; Hiroshi Ezura (2007). "Genetically stable expression of functional miraculin, a new type of alternative sweetener, in transgenic tomato plants". Plant Biotechnology Journal. 5 (6): 768–777. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7652.2007.00283.x . ISSN   1467-7644. PMID   17692073.
  21. Oliver-Bever, Bep (1986). Medicinal plants in tropical West Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 266. ISBN   0-521-26815-X.
  22. Farrell P, Bracken K (28 May 2008). "A Tiny Fruit That Tricks the Tongue". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  23. "Synsepalum dulcificum Import Alert 45-07; Taiwan". US Food and Drug Administration. 5 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  24. foodnavigator.com (15 June 2021). "Baïa Food eyes 'untapped' potential of 'Dried Miracle Berries' in sugar reduction after Novel Foods approval". foodnavigator.com. Retrieved 29 August 2022.