Thaumatococcus danielli is a tropical West African rain forest rhizome plant known for its non-sugar protein: Thaumatin I, Thaumatin II and Preprothaumatin. It is also known as the sweet prayers plant because it is 2000 times sweeter than sugar and among Yoruba tribe it is known as Ewe-eran. It belongs to the family Marantaceae.
Its local uses are versatile, ranging from cultivation as fetish plant in Gabon to collecting leaves from its natural habitat to wrapping and boiling food in Ghana and Nigeria. However, the most exciting use of T. Danielli, is its use as sweetener and taste modifier. It causes no tooth decay
A gene from T. Danielli has been inserted into a cucumber plant to increase its perceived sweetness in human esters by the Warsaw University of Life Sciences.
Ewe-eran is used for:
- Wrapping corn pudding
- Wrapping bean pudding (due to its heat retention property, it also adds its sweetness to the pudding)
- Diabetics
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