“What’s that for?” -- “Gives it a little kick.”

Ben Thompson  

It’s Friday night. You just finished your homework when you’re suddenly hit with a craving for something sweet. Unfortunately when you open your fridge, all that you find are lemons, pickles, hot sauce, and beer (assuming that you are at least 21 years of age). Just as you lose all hope, you realize that your roommate just bought this weird pack of berries and labeled them ‘hands off.’ You pop a berry in your mouth and drink a beer in hopes that it will help relieve the crave. To your surprise, the beer tastes like liquid chocolate. Thinking you’ve gone mad, you taste the remaining food. Amazingly, you felt like Charlie Bucket and got the sudden urge to sing “Pure Imagination.”
This berry is none other than the famous Synsepalum dulcificum, or as we say in English, Miracle Berry. It contains a special glycoprotein called Miraculin, which binds to the sweet receptors on the tongue and makes them responsive to acids. This makes sour and, as rumor has it, bitter things taste sweet. Before taking off to the market, there is some bad news. The berry only has a shelf life of 2-3 days, so unless you fly to West Africa, you won’t be able to eat the berry. However, the pulp has been freeze-dried and made into tablets to be sold commercially. People have been known to host “taste tripping” parties using these tablets.
The Miracle Berry is also being developed into a sweetener for diabetics and obese people. It has gained popularity in Japan and would most likely do well in the United States as well, but, unfortunately, the FDA will not allow businesses to commercialize the berry.
If you want to have a “taste buds on LSD” party, then buy yourself some Miracle Berry tablets and see what it’s like to find the golden ticket.