Deep in West Africa grows a little red fruit with a wild secret: it can flip your sense of taste upside down.

The Synsepalum dulcificum, better known as the miracle berry, doesn’t taste like much itself. But after eating it, sour foods taste sweet—lemons become lemonade, vinegar turns into syrup, and hot sauce can taste like dessert.

The trick lies in a protein called miraculin. It binds to your tongue’s taste receptors and temporarily alters how you perceive acidity. As a result, anything tart suddenly registers as sugary-sweet. The effect can last from 30 minutes to over an hour.

Originally used by West African tribes to sweeten palm wine and sour fruits, miracle berries have since fascinated chefs, food scientists, and even cancer patients seeking to restore appetite dulled by treatment.

In the 1970s, there was even an attempt to market it as a sugar substitute—but rumors of FDA pressure and vanished investors gave the story a mysterious twist.

Now, “flavor tripping” parties use the berry as a culinary curiosity—proof that sometimes, nature is stranger (and sweeter) than fiction.