He's not making money but he's helping cancer patients enjoy food again

He believes the fruit helps cancer patients rediscover their enjoyment of food by temporarily altering taste dysfunction, a condition known medically as dysgeusia.

Miracle fruit is west-African red berry that contains a glycoprotein called miraculin, which binds to the tongue and makes sour or acidic foods, like lemons, taste sweet for a few hours.

"People who have had cancer treatment often get damage to their taste buds and are left with a metallic or bland taste in their mouth, so miracle fruit blocks that and encourages them to keep eating and maintain nutrition," Mr Beckwith said.

In early 2021, Chris Beckwith and his partner Karen Pereira moved 3000 miracle fruit trees from their off-grid Daintree home to a farm in Childers to expand their growing and freeze-drying operation, Rubyberry.

While most pursue expansion to boost profitability, this was not the case for these growers.

After spending most of their lives in lustrous advertising careers in Sydney, profit was not the highest rung on the ladder.

"We really haven't made money for seven years, I've just been working on my savings because it does take a lot of money to be doing it continually," Mr Beckwith said.

"We do it because it saves people's lives."

The couple are the first commercial growers in Australia, with only a handful worldwide. They are one of only two producers globally growing the product for medical use.

The move south was fulled by logistic issues, as they had trouble getting their product from Cairns to hospitals and pharmacies around the country.

They also wanted a place with sunnier days to help berries grow, flat land for shade houses, and needed to switch away from an off-grid system to support freeze-drying.

Mr Beckwith looked for a place with a similar latitude as where the fruit grows in the northern hemisphere. He found a flat area in Childers where they bought their eight-hectare property.

The plants made it through the journey, but it took some time for the trees to adjust to the cooler winter.

After heavy application of a seaweed-based nutrient supplement, Mr Beckwith said the trees were producing bigger fruit.

Despite great soil composition for growing in the area, they have continued growing the trees in pots to save water and nutrient. They've found keeping the trees at a height of two metres helps keep the fruit accessible during picking.

The shade houses also allow them to keep growing to organic-principals, not having to spray for insects.

After moving to Childers, a critical step in developing a marketable product was improving their freeze-drying.

Mr Beckwith explained the only way to preserve the glycoprotein after picking the fruit was to freeze it. However, selling a frozen product could cause logistical problems if it defrosted and lost texture.

"I think the best way, and really the only way, is to freeze dry it and don't let it oxidise, and have a silica pack with it, so it will last a couple of years," he said.

To create a food-grade facility on their farm, they converted a commercial freezer into a registered commercial kitchen and obtained a food-handling license.

As part of their investment, they purchased a $40,000 pulping machine designed by an agricultural engineer. It pulps the berries and separates the seeds without causing them to disintegrate or explode.

After pulping, they pour the liquid mixture into moulds and place them in their freeze dryer.

The pulp is frozen to minus 18 and then minus 40 degrees before it is heated up to 60 degrees and the vacuum pump sucks the moisture out.

"It goes from a soil ice state to like a Malteser in as far as a crispy aerated state," Mr Beckwith said.

Their freeze dryer is the largest domestic size available on the market, and was a $15,000 investment due to necessary modifications. They were hoping to invest in a second machine in the coming years.

Although they sell around 200 packets per month to Tropical Fruit World in the Tweed region for tourists, they mostly distribute through 40 pharmacies and online within Australia and New Zealand.

Demand rose significantly in the past year after Ramsay Health Care, Australia's largest operator of private hospitals, started selling the product in their hospital pharmacies.

Last year, Cancer Council Queensland also added miracle fruit information to their information and support line, however patients had to specifically ask about it to receive information.

Mr Beckwith said while this was a step in the right direction, he hoped for further endorsement by the medical community after the release of upcoming studies on the use of miracle fruit in the relief of dysgeusia.

"The demand is requiring that we really are serious with this if we want an Australian product."