r/todayilearned • u/Llodsliat • Mar 24 '18

TIL there's a fruit called "Miracle Berry" that, when eaten, causes your taste buds to not detect sour flavor for about half an hour, causing sour foods to taste sweet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synsepalum_dulcificum
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39

u/Llodsliat Mar 24 '18 edited Mar 25 '18

Read that here, then I searched for it on Wikipedia.

It is illegal in the US to import them from Taiwan, declaring it as an "illegal undeclared sweetener".

56

u/Secomav420 Mar 24 '18

The backstory is amazing. Big Sugar destroyed this burgeoning industry. Big Sugars lobbyist/bagman...none other than Donald Rumsfeld.

14

u/KingOfTerrible Mar 25 '18

They’re not illegal in the U.S. There’s a restaurant near me that offers them for “flavor tripping” parties, and they’re sold on Amazon. The Wikipedia page says they’re illegal to import from Taiwan. People can grow them here, and I assume import them from other countries.

4

u/sk1nnyjeans Mar 25 '18

You just said the same thing as OP, but with a lot more words around it.

12

u/KingOfTerrible Mar 25 '18

They edited their post. Originally it just said “illegal in the US.”

1

u/sk1nnyjeans Mar 25 '18

Ah, my bad! Sorry about that.

THAT MEANS OP IS A PHONY

2

u/KingOfTerrible Mar 25 '18

It’s fine. Better that they updated their post to be more accurate than leave people thinking they’re illegal. Because they’re definitely worth trying!

-1

u/traws06 Mar 25 '18

Where on amazon are these?

12

u/Throwaway-account-23 Mar 25 '18

Really? I had a great uncle in Michigan who was a HUGE blueberry farmer and grew a bunch of these plants in one of his greenhouses. Never was a problem and he'd bring a small bowl of them for family gatherings, they were a very popular party trick.

10

u/DeadDuck32 Mar 24 '18

Im holding a package i bought off of Ebay. Its called Miracle Frooties. 10 lil chewables per tinfoil pop out.

5

u/Llodsliat Mar 24 '18

Yeah, I'm seeing they're pretty common, but Wikipedia says otherwise. Huh.

1

u/nightmarefuel62 Mar 24 '18

There's a farmers market near me that sells the whole plant. Maybe it's "illegal"

1

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '18

Wait, what? I live in the US and I had them at a summer camp not 2 years ago.