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mon slices taste like candy. With tart vinegar, you taste apple juice. Sour cream tastes like pudding. The effect takes anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour to compress. In its native West Africa, given that miracle fruit has been used as a sweetener for centuries. Yet, due in part to its fragility and short shelf life, the fruit is not widely known in the Western world. Growers such as Curtis Mozie, who began growing miracle fruit in Florida as a hobby over two decades ago, is attempting to increase awareness and consumption of the fruit. To avoid difficulties in shipping the delicate berries, his company sells them in frozen and dried forms and it also sells them in powder, gum, and lollipops. Dr. Linda Bartoshuk, whose studied the miracle fruit and its properties over several decades, says miraculin's effect is unique among known proteins. Though other plants can influence taste perceptions—one herb, for example, which entirely blocks sweet receptors—none but the miracle fruit triggers such powerfully sweet tastes in response to an acidic environment. Bartoshuk (and other scientists) continue to research potential health benefits of the berry; meanwhile, researchers in Japan have created a type of lettuce capable of producing miraculin.
=== Hilo Hula ===
Clad in a flowing, floor-length red dress, her neck and hair adorned with red and yellow flowers. A woman slowly makes her way to the stage. Wearing a flowing dress of red as the guitar’s soft melody floats through the air, she offers a sad smile. Raising her arms gracefully, she begins to tell a legendary and sorrowful Hawaiian tale. She speaks no words, however, instead relaying the ancient story through the expressive art of dance native to Hawai‘i: hula. Her performance marks the start of the world’s most prestigious hula competition, held each spring at the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, Hawai‘i. Founded in 1964 as an endeavor to accomplish a boost in Hilo’s economy, the festival, named for a nineteenth-century Hawaiian king known for patronizing the arts, initially struggled to gain interest. It wasn’t until festival organizer Dottie Thompson and respected hula master, “Uncle” George Na‘ope introduced hula competitions in 1971 that attendance was invigorated. Its renewed focus on celebrating hula and other aspects of authentic Hawaiian culture attracted both locals and visitors alike. Thompson and Na‘ope believed all elements of hula tradition, both ancient (referring to hula predating 1893) and modern, need to be preserved and shared. Kahiko, or ancient hula, involves chanting and little instrumental accompaniment. ‘Auana(modern hula), on the other hand, having been influenced by Western music, is generally accompanied by guitar or ukulele. Due in part to Na‘ope’s efforts to revive male hula, when a men’s division was added in 1976. The festival’s competitive hula events, which had grown so popular by then that they were relocated from a small auditorium to a larger venue, where they have taken place ever since. Today, many credit the festival, an annual event in Hilo, with the widespread revitalization of hula. The organizers’ ongoing commitment to promote and preserve Hawaiian culture helps the art of hula continue to thrive as a “living tradition.”