Japanese horticulturalist develops taste-modifying tablets
Published:16-January-2006
By BR staff writer
Tablets made from 'miracle fruit', a berry native to west Africa that makes sour things taste sweet, have been made available for public sale in Japan.
According to Japanese press sources, Mitsuharu Shimamura, a 31-year-old horticulturist, established the world's first technology to make tablets out of the tropical berries, which contain a sweet-inducing protein called miraculin.
"One pink-colored tablet is made of three miracle fruit berries", Mr Shimamura told Japan Today. "When people eat or lick the fruit's red berries, any sour thing they eat or drink a minute later tastes sweet for about two hours."
The modification in taste occurs when the miraculin protein firmly binds to sweet receptor cells in a person's tongue when sour substances are present. The protein then transmits a false message to the brain, resulting in a strong, sweet taste.
