This Berry Makes Lemons Taste Like Candy. The FDA Blocked It In 1974. Why?

Miracle berry (miracle fruit) is a small red berry from West Africa that makes sour food taste sweet. Chew one, wait a minute, and a lemon tastes like lemonade. It contains almost no sugar. In 1974 an American company was days from putting it into popsicles, gum and diet foods across the country. Then one letter from the FDA stopped it. Why? In this video: how people in West Africa have used the berry before sour meals for centuries, how scientists isolated the protein miraculin in 1968, how it switches on the tongue's sweet receptors only when acid is present, and the story of Robert Harvey and the Miralin company, including the taste tests where children chose the berry popsicle over a sugar one. Then the summer of 1974: the cars Harvey says followed him, the office break-in, and the FDA letter of September 19, 1974 that classified the product as a food additive and ended the company. You will also learn: • Why the berry itself is legal to grow and eat in the United States, but cannot be added to packaged food • What happened in Japan and Europe, where dried miracle berry was authorized as a food in 2021 • How to grow a miracle berry plant in a pot, and the acid soil it needs • How to use a berry, and what to taste first A note on fairness: the account of being followed and of the break-in comes from the company's founders. No investigation ever established who was responsible, and this video does not accuse any company or person. IMPORTANT: The berry changes how food tastes, not what is in it. Sour foods are still acidic and can still affect your teeth and stomach. It does not remove sugar and it is not a treatment for diabetes or any other condition. Talk to your doctor if you manage your blood sugar. Not recommended during pregnancy or nursing. This video is for education only and is not medical or nutritional advice. Sources and further reading: • Adam Leith Gollner interview, Cabinet Magazine: "Sweet Tart" • Botany One: "Miraculin: The Miracle in Miracle Fruit" • Atlas Obscura: "The Miracle Sugar Substitute The FDA Won't Let You Have" • European Union Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1974 on dried miracle berry • ClinicalTrials.gov: freeze-dried miracle fruit in cancer treatment If you had one berry in your hand right now, what is the first sour thing you would bite into? Tell me in the comments. #miracleberry #miraclefruit #forgottenplants