On a long drive late last night, I tuned into the BBC world service on whatever the local NPR station in the area was. One of the pieces was on a cafe in Japan which centered its business around a bean from West Africa which – supposedly – when chewed makes everything one eats taste sweet. The field reporter talked through chomping one to spread it over his tongue and then ate a raw lemon wedge, then raved about how it was downright sugary.
[ul]
[li] The cafe refers to them as “magic fruit” or “magic beans”. What are they really called?[/li][li] Do they actually work?[/li][li] If so, is there a biological/biochemical explanation of how they work? (shorting out other taste buds so only the sweet gets through?)[/li][li] Can someone in the US get them without the overhead of a trip to Tokyo?[/li][/ul]
Well, just dang you! 
You really dredged up a long-ago memory…I remember reading about something that does just what you say; and that’s ALL I remember. I have already spent over an hour searching the internet for some reference, to no avail.
Now I can not quite quit trying to find out what it was. Help!
Oh, wow. THANK YOU!!
I was soooo close, in addition to everything else I tried in Google, I used the terms “Magic Fruit” and “Magic Beans” as well as a lot of other terms and got nowhere.
I thank you. My client (although they don’t know it) thanks you, too, for my being able to concentrate on the task at hand at work tomorrow.
Yes, these beans may be “magic fruit”, but the more you eat them…
Don’t know about “miracle berries,” but there is a plant known as the “serendipity berry” which contains a compound known as “Monellin” which is hundreds if not thousands of times sweeter that sugar. it belongs to a class of compounds known as "taste-modifying proteins:
Here’s a list of some additional proteins and where they come from. While not quite up to the exacting scientific rigor of The Guardian, it will hopefully suffice.