Hah, we had a party at our college dorm. We ordered 80 of these and someone brought in goat cheese, limes, lemons, grapefruit juice, sourdough bread and a few other things. The goat cheese tasted like ice cream, the limes and lemons like limeade and lemonade, the grapefruit juice tasted like one of those generic fruit punches, and the sourdough bread tasted pretty normal. The effect lasted about half an hour. I don't think the taste of beer changed at all. I highly recommend miracle berries for an awesome party.
Man, the BBC really loves to let people rail against the FDA.
The reality is that if this berry has a theraputic effect it needs to be tested and proven safe. "Anecdotal evidence from Africa" really isn't a great idea. And industrial espionage in the flavor industry isn't new, it's commonplace, so reading into a burglary for a potential flavor breakthrough seems a little absurd.
In any event, it seems to be legal to sell in the states now.
we had some unintended guests and so were 1 berry short and had to share. at first, we weren't sure if it was even going to work. and then, suddenly, it did. guinness & sorbet mixed into wonderful. straight tabasco sauce. straight white vinegar. all sorts of fruits. the occasional cheese. the effects lasted around an hour, at the end of which it became clear that although the mouth can enjoy these things, our stomachs maybe less so. we never made it to the birthday cake.
anyone try the thinkgeek extract? i'd very much like to introduce more people to this but the poor durability of the actual berries has made it problematic.