Subject: miracle fruit

From: [email-masked] (Ben Craven)
Date: 23 Aug 1996 10:16:19 GMT

Can anybody tell me where I can buy Miracle Fruit 
(berries of Synsepalum Dulcificum)?
It is supposed to be the case that chewing these berries makes sour
things taste sweet, eg you can eat a lemon as if it were an orange.

Does this fruit have any undesirable side effects? I would like to 
use them in an undergraduate practical class, and it wouldn't look
good if I made 70 students ill!

Replies by e-mail would be much appreciated (to [email-masked])

Thanks

Ben Craven
University of Stirling

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From: [email-masked] (Ray Bruman)
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 1996 14:05:27 GMT

Ben Craven ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Can anybody tell me where I can buy Miracle Fruit 
: (berries of Synsepalum Dulcificum)?
: It is supposed to be the case that chewing these berries makes sour
: things taste sweet, eg you can eat a lemon as if it were an orange.

I've never tried them (they are native to eastern Africa, Kenya
and such, I believe).  But I'd sure like to.  Check with plant
societies (here we have the California Rare Fruit Growers) for
more info.

I don't think the effect is quite as strong as you describe,
but it is there.  There is a similar, milder effect with
artichokes.  After a bite of artichoke, neutral things like
water will taste slightly sweeter.

-- 
Ray Bruman                                             [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (DGholston)
Date: 23 Aug 1996 14:05:15 -0400

Ben Craven ([email-masked]) wrote:
>It is supposed to be the case that chewing these berries >makes sour>
things taste sweet, eg you can eat a lemon >as if it were an orange.

The berries are rather perishable and I doubt that you are likely to find
them for sale (except in a tropical country where the plant grows
locally). Your best bet would be to buy a plant--they make a very nice
houseplant and bloom and bear fruit, but the only source of plants that I
know of are in the U.S. For what it is worth I will list two sources:
Roger and Shirley Meyer, 16531 Mt. Shelly Circle, Fountain Valley, CA
92708, USA. The price is US $15.00 plus $3.00 (domestic). Also Hartmann's
Plantation Inc., 310 60th St., P.O. Box E, Grand Junction, MI 49056, USA.
Their price is US $19.95 plus 15% shipping (domestic).

Don Gholston
California Rare Fruit Growers

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From: [email-masked] (Justin Cormack)
Date: 24 Aug 1996 17:23:22 +0100

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Ray Bruman) writes:
|>Ben Craven ([email-masked]) wrote:
|>I don't think the effect is quite as strong as you describe,
|>but it is there.  There is a similar, milder effect with
|>artichokes.  After a bite of artichoke, neutral things like
|>water will taste slightly sweeter.

Funny, this was mentioned in an earlier artichoke thread. Can anyone tell us
why?

Justin

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From: [email-masked] (Georg Tintner)
Date: 25 Aug 1996 21:32:56 GMT

: Does this fruit have any undesirable side effects? I would like to 
: use them in an undergraduate practical class, and it wouldn't look
: good if I made 70 students ill!

Correct. AThe effect is strong and quite starting. A lemon is perfectly 
edible, the souness just isn't there; if you eat an orange it tastes 
almost rotten (but not unpleasantly so). You need only a minute quanity 
of the fruit to get this effect - just nibble the end off one of the 
berries (and they aren't large, about the size of a small olive).

I tried ato grow the plant in Brisbane (subtropical, but with cool 
winters, no frost) and never succeeded, so it seems to be temperamental 
in all but tropical areas.

Tanya Tintner

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From: Bob Pastorio <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 25 Aug 1996 16:58:32 -0700

There is a compound called Cynarin found (in the fifties) in artichokes 
that affects some people.  Those affected say that after eating 
artichokes, other foods taste sweeter for a short period of time.  Not 
everybody is receptive to its effects and the theory is that it's 
genetically determined.

Bob(don't drink wine with artichokes)Pastorio

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From: Bob Pastorio <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 25 Aug 1996 16:58:54 -0700

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From: [email-masked] (DGholston)
Date: 25 Aug 1996 19:08:05 -0400

>Does this fruit have any undesirable side effects? I would >like to use
them in an undergraduate practical class, and >it wouldn't look good if I
made 70 students ill!

I am not aware of any side effects to chewing Miracle Fruit berries. As
the person in Australia said, it only takes a small amount of the berrry
to get the effect. After a relatively short time the taste returns to
normal.

Don Gholston

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From: Caroline Resnik <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 25 Aug 1996 22:00:01 -0700

> Bob(don't drink wine with artichokes)Pastorio

I had noticed that but never knew why. Thanks for the info.

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From: [email-masked](J. Lee Lehman)
Date: 26 Aug 1996 15:37:49 GMT

>in all but tropical areas.

Guess that's why I had problems too. I bought a plant in a Ft.
Lauderdale nursery and brought it home with me to east coast central
Florida. It did not survive. So, in Florida anyway, it seems to grow
well from Ft. Lauderdale (26 degrees north latitude) and points south
(still technically sub-tropical but definitely hot and humid with rare
freezes).

Maggie (using Lee's Netcom acct.
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (DGholston)
Date: 26 Aug 1996 22:50:09 -0400

If anyone is interested, contact me and I will send you a copy of a Fact
Sheet on Miracle Fruit (description, culture, etc.) that has not yet been
posted at our CRFG Web Site.

Don Gholston
[email-masked]

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From: " Mary f(pud)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Aug 1996 22:46:14 -0700

> water will taste slightly sweeter.

But Wine, Yuck!  Champagne is the only thing I've found that works
well with artichokes.  You are right (as usual) :-).
-- 
Mary f.  (hey...cut that out...these are jeans, not a tree trunk,
  although, Bernie does call them sticks!)     
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It's a widdle,widdle, widdle pud (hey, Simba, look mom is part
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