LONG BEACH, Calif. – Is a little red berry from West Africa the solution to world famine and hunger?

Chicago chef Homaro Cantu thinks it might be. Cantu, executive chef at Moto restaurant in the Windy City and his new venue iNG, told the TED audience on Tuesday that miracle berries could help feed people in famine-stricken regions by turning what would normally be inedible ingredients — such as wild and bitter grasses — into palatable food. Kentucky bluegrass, for example, tastes like tarragon, Cantu says.

Cantu and Roche and their team have used miracle berries with cactus and even straw to pleasant effect.

“The key thing here is tricking your tastebuds. Now your brain is telling you that all of this is not just food, but delicious food,” he says.

Miracle berries were discovered in 1725 in West Africa among a tribe that was found fermenting wild plants and eating them after consuming the berries.

Miracle berries, which look like cranberries, contain a magical glycoprotein, called miraculin, that binds to the sour and bitter receptors in the mouth. It prevents these flavors from being tasted and thereby tricks the mind into thinking food that’s being ingested is sweet. The effect lasts 45 minutes to an hour, but can dissipate more quickly by drinking a glass of warm water.

The berries can also be used as a safe food sweetener for diabetics or simply for people trying to reduce their sugar use. Cantu says he feeds his two young daughters waffles with syrup made from corn starch, water and lemon juice. Cooked in the microwave, the concoction has the same viscosity as syrup, and becomes sweet if eaten after consuming the miracle berry or berry tablets.

”The kids, they don’t know the difference, but it’s basically maple syrup,” he says. “That’s just one example. You take lemon juice, squeeze it into soda water and now you have the world’s tastiest Sprite. You’re not going to eliminate the demand for sweet things . . . what we can do is give people something else that’s better for them.”

Cantu and his team, which includes pastry chef Ben Roche, have successfully experimented with the berry to eliminate the metallic flavor that chemotherapy patients taste in food. As a result, they’re able to eat again and gain much needed weight.

“It works 100 percent of the time, and there are no complications with pharmaceutical products,” Cantu told Wired.com after his talk. “We haven’t seen any side effects. That’s just huge.”

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