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RESEARCH PRODUCT

MIRACULINE as a natural sweetener; the N3S QUALIMENT project. Potential interest in baking

subject

description

Miraculine is a glycol-protein extracted from the Miracle fruit which is a berry(Synsepalum dulcificum - Sapotaceae family, Daniell-1952). Common names for the miracle fruit are miracle berry, miraculous berry, sweet berry …. It originated from West Africa and is grown under tropical climate. In the 1970s, it has been attempted to commercialize miraculin on a large scale in the United States under the name of Miralin. The FDA allowed and then blocked the development of this new natural sweetener because no non-toxicity test had been performed. At the same time, aspartame was authorized. Today, miraculin is still not permitted in the USA and in Europe (classified as Novel Food). Besides, it is consumed in many African states and in Japan in particular for diabetics. The miracle fruit berry has a low sugar content. The miraculine glycoproteins binds to the mouth taste buds and turns sour food to taste sweet. N3S project (2017-2019 - 36 months) id funded by the QUALIMENT “CARNOT NETWORK” funded by ANR (French Agency for Research) and is coordinated by Dr Loïc BRIAND (INRA-CSGA). Additional partners are INRA Center of Guadeloupe (French West Indies) and company PHYTOBOKAZ (Guadeloupe-France) which starts growing Miraculine. N3S aims at;-Optimizing the processing of miracle berry to efficiently extract the Miraculine protein-Developing Miraculine recombinant protein production -Assessing the thermal resistance of Miraculine-Implement Miraculine in a pound cake model systemFirst tests on reformulation of pound cake will be presented using selected bulking agent as a replacer to sucrose. The impact of the acidification of pound cake on the structure and texture of the cake has been evaluated. Preliminary tests on thermal resistance of Miraculine will be presented.