It is known for its berry that, when eaten, causes sour foods (such as lemons and limes) subsequently consumed to taste sweet.

At neutral pH, miraculin binds and blocks the receptors, but at low pH (resulting from ingestion of sour foods) miraculin binds proteins and becomes able to activate the sweet receptors, resulting in the perception of sweet taste.

[7] Outsiders began learning this fruit since at least the 18th century, when a European explorer, the Chevalier des Marchais, provided an account of its use there.

Des Marchais, who was searching West Africa for many different fruits in a 1725 excursion, noticed that local people picked the berry from shrubs and chewed it before meals.

[15] This interest had a revival in food-tasting events at which tasters consume sour and bitter foods, such as lemons, radishes, pickles, hot sauce, and beer, then experience the perceived change to sweetness with miraculin.

[5] The plant grows best in soils with a pH as low as 4.5 to 5.8, in an environment free from frost and in partial shade with high humidity.

[5] Transgenic tomato plants have been developed in research projects that produce miraculin.

[19][20] In tropical West Africa, where this species originates, the fruit pulp is used to sweeten palm wine.

[22] Since 2011, the United States FDA has imposed a ban on importing Synsepalum dulcificum (specifying 'miraculin') from its origin in Taiwan, declaring it as an "illegal undeclared sweetener".

[23] In 2021, the company Baïa Food Co. in Spain was granted to put Dried Miracle Berry on the market in the EU.