1. The miracle fruit contains a natural protein, called miraculin, which has sugar molecules that bind to the tongue, she said.

2. What makes the fruit strange and miraculous, is miraculin (a sugar substitute), which is found in large quantities in the fruit, combined with a glycoprotein.

3. Miraculin is an alkaline glycol - protein which can transform sour to sweet taste.

4. The fruit has caught on among "flavor trippers," who pop the berry—or a tablet containing miraculin—to make foods like lemons taste as sweet as lemon pie.

5. Straight edge: The miracle fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum), native to West Africa, contains a glycoprotein called miraculin that binds to taste receptors on the tongue and makes sour foods taste sweet.

6. At the University of Florida, food scientists have genetically engineered the miraculin gene into tomatoes and strawberries.