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katemfe_fruit
Katemfe (Thaumatococcus daniellii) is a tropical flowering plant of the family Marantaceae. It is native to the tropical forests of Ghana as well as neighboring countries. It has been introduced into the forests of northern Australia. From its fruit (and particularly its red and fleshy aril) is extracted Thaumatin, a sweet-tasting protein used as a sweetener.
Thaumatococcus daniellii is a plant species native to Africa, known to be the natural source of thaumatin, an intensely sweet protein of interest for the development of sweeteners. When the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, this molecule binds to the taste buds of the tongue, which gives a sweet taste to sour foods. It is a large, rhizomatous flowering plant native to the tropical forests of West Africa, from Sierra Leone to Zaire. It is also a introduced species in Australia and Singapore.
Thaumatococcus daniellii reaches a height of three to four meters and has large papery leaves up to 46 centimeters long. It bears pale purple flowers and a sweet fruit containing some bright black seeds. The fruit is covered with a fleshy red aril, which is the part that contains thaumatin. In its natural range, the plant has a number of uses in addition to aromatization. Robust leaf petioles are used as tools and building materials, leaves are used to wrap foods, and leaves and seeds have a number of traditional medicinal uses.
Common names for this species include the miracle fruit (but the unrelated Synsepalum dulcificum is better known by this name) and miracle berry; also katamfe or katempfe, Yoruba soft cane, and African serendipity berry.
A Thaumatococcus daniellii gene has been inserted into a cucumber plant to increase its perceived sweetness in human eaters by the University of Life Sciences in Warsaw.