
It sounds to good to be true -- a berry that makes sour things taste sweet!
The berry is very real. It's called "miracle fruit -- that's actually what it's called -- though the scientific name is Synsepalum dulcificum for those of you who want to get technical. And more for the technical folks, a protein in the fruit binds to taste buds and alters the tongue's so-called sweet receptors to activate when sour foods are eaten. Sour things taste sweet for about an hour after the berry is eaten.
It may seem just a novelty or a fun foodie trick to do at parties, but there could be some health and medical uses for the berry once the science people figure it out. I can think of a few now: lose weight by tricking your taste buds into thinking that extremely low calorie foods are actually as sweet as dessert, and any other use in which people need a sugar substitute.
[via: Gimundo]

I was in line in the supermarket last night, and the woman behind me told her son, around 10 or 11 years old, that if he wanted he could run to get some ice cream. About 5 minutes later the kid came back.








