At a recent tasting party at her home in Jupiter, Fla., Jennifer Hansen surprised her family and friends with something unexpected. The sour flavors of lemons, limes and vinegar-based hot sauces turned amazingly sweet.

That’s because everyone first ate the ripe-red berries from a Miracle Fruit plant.

“People don’t eat the Miracle Fruit for how it tastes,” she says. “They eat it for how it makes other things taste.”

Synsepalum dulcificum is called the Miracle Fruit or Miracle Berry for a reason. The plant, native to West Africa, grows berries that contain a glycoprotein called miraculin. This substance has a way of binding to the taste buds causing sour foods to taste sweet for a short amount of time.

“When your taste buds are under the influence of Miracle Fruits, sour foods like limes and lemons are freaking amazing,” Jennifer says. “The depth and brightness of their flavor is just unparalleled, like one of the best things I have ever tasted.”

She says other fun foods to try are vinegary hot sauces, like Cholula or Tabasco, or even straight vinegar. At her party she also offered kombucha, salt and vinegar potato chips, and blueberries.

“It’s a really fun thing to do with kids. And with adults, it brings out the kids in them! We are so sure of how things taste, but this fruit makes tasting foods to which we have grown accustomed an exciting new experience.”

In addition to being a Florida master gardener, Jennifer is a knit and crochet designer known as the StitchDiva, and she also teaches crochet classes on Craftsy.com. Her interest in gardening started while traveling the tropics. 

As a fairly new Florida gardener she’s experimenting with growing vegetables in a raised bed garden, but also planting trees with fruits that are hard to find and plants that are difficult to grow, like the black bat flower (Tacca chantrieri).

She purchased her Miracle Fruit plant only a few months ago and the berries were ready to party with at the end of December. 

While tasting parties of homegrown fruits and vegetables can be fun, the Miracle Fruit has another purpose, too.

Jennifer says the berries are used to improve the taste of foods for chemotherapy patients and to help people with diabetes enjoy something sweet without any sugar.

Fine Gardening Recommended Products

Gardener's Log Book from NYBG

Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.

This weatherproof five-year log book includes the following features: · Sturdy waterproof cover to protect pages from rain and muddy soil · Lined pages and gridded paper for plotting beds · Five years of 12-month bloom and harvest grids for recording what you planted and when · Authoritative appendices on composting, pruning, pest and disease control, and container gardening · Useful reminders by season on fertilizing, mulching, and transplanting · Space for listing your favorite sources and suppliers.

Buy at Amazon

A.M. Leonard Deluxe Soil Knife & Leather Sheath Combo

Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.

MULTITASKING DUAL EDGES: a deep serrated edge and a tapered slicing edge ideal for tough or delicate cuts. DURABLE 6-inch stainless steel blade withstands 300 lbs of pressure. TWINE CUTTING NOTCH, DEPTH GAUGE MARKINGS & spear point - no need to switch tools when using this garden knife. LEATHER SHEATH: heavy duty, protective, clip on sheath to keep your knife convenient and secure. LIFETIME WARRANTY.

Buy at Amazon

Berry & Bird Rabbiting Spade, Trenching Shovel

Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.

Ideal Tool for All Gardeners Use: Our heavy duty trenching shovel is designed by a professional gardening tool designer. Lifetime Durability: This heavy duty drain spade is made of high-quality stainless steel, it is very strong and durable, even if it is used for high-strength work, it will not bend. Ergonomic Wood Handle: The handle of this planting spade is made of ash hardwood harvested from FSC-certified forests and has an ergonomically streamlined design, making it very suitable for everyone's hands. Multi-Use: This digging shovel is generally used for digging trenches, digging holes, transplanting, edging, moving compost, cutting thick turf and furrowing. The sharp blade allows you to cut, scoop, dig, lift and dice in hard soil.

Buy at Amazon