diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index bf032218ee..231b544aa3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ Next Release
 ============
 
 * [#352](https://github.com/intridea/grape/pull/352): Modified registration/execution order of Rack Middleware, fixes issues with `Rack::JSONP` responses that contain a `Grape::Entity` - [@deckchair](https://github.com/deckchair).
+* [#347](https://github.com/intridea/grape/issues/347): Grape will accept any valid JSON as PUT or POST, including strings, symbols and arrays - [@qqshfox](https://github.com/qqshfox), [@dblock](https://github.com/dblock).
+* [#347](https://github.com/intridea/grape/issues/347): JSON format APIs will always return valid JSON, eg. strings are now returned as `"string"` and no longer `string` - [@dblock](https://github.com/dblock).
 * Your contribution here.
 
 0.3.2 (2/28/2013)
diff --git a/lib/grape/formatter/json.rb b/lib/grape/formatter/json.rb
index 37c060c1a9..5bea9b20c1 100644
--- a/lib/grape/formatter/json.rb
+++ b/lib/grape/formatter/json.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ module Json
       class << self
 
         def call(object, env)
-          return object if object.is_a?(String)
           return object.to_json if object.respond_to?(:to_json)
           MultiJson.dump(object)
         end
diff --git a/lib/grape/middleware/formatter.rb b/lib/grape/middleware/formatter.rb
index 8c2e81a45d..1969d33fa4 100644
--- a/lib/grape/middleware/formatter.rb
+++ b/lib/grape/middleware/formatter.rb
@@ -44,10 +44,14 @@ def read_body_input
                 fmt = mime_types[request.media_type] if request.media_type
                 if content_type_for(fmt)
                   parser = Grape::Parser::Base.parser_for fmt, options
-                  unless parser.nil?
+                  if parser
                     begin
-                      body = parser.call body, env
-                      env['rack.request.form_hash'] = env['rack.request.form_hash'] ? env['rack.request.form_hash'].merge(body) : body
+                      body = (env['api.request.body'] = parser.call(body, env))
+                      if body.is_a?(Hash)
+                        env['rack.request.form_hash'] = env['rack.request.form_hash'] ? env['rack.request.form_hash'].merge(body) : body
+                      else
+                        env['api.request.body'] = body
+                      end
                       env['rack.request.form_input'] = env['rack.input']
                     rescue Exception => e
                       throw :error, :status => 400, :message => e.message
diff --git a/spec/grape/api_spec.rb b/spec/grape/api_spec.rb
index 87271e42b6..9ce1a59196 100644
--- a/spec/grape/api_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/grape/api_spec.rb
@@ -203,13 +203,14 @@ def app; subject end
 
     describe 'root routes should work with' do
       before do
+        subject.format :txt
         def subject.enable_root_route!
-          self.get("/") {"root"}
+          self.get("/") { "root" }
         end
       end
 
       after do
-        last_response.body.should eql 'root'
+        last_response.body.should eql "root"
       end
 
       describe 'path versioned APIs' do
@@ -314,16 +315,18 @@ def subject.enable_root_route!
       last_response.body.should eql 'hiya'
     end
 
-    %w(put post).each do |verb|
-      ['string', :symbol, 1, -1.1, {}, [], true, false, nil].each do |object|
-        it "allows a(n) #{object.class} json object for #{verb.upcase} when accessing the params" do
-          subject.send(verb) do
-            params # TODO: get the object passed in
-            {}
+    [ :put, :post ].each do |verb|
+      context verb do
+        [ 'string', :symbol, 1, -1.1, {}, [], true, false, nil ].each do |object|
+          it "allows a(n) #{object.class} json object in params" do
+            subject.format :json
+            subject.send(verb) do
+              env['api.request.body']
+            end
+            send verb, '/', MultiJson.dump(object), { 'CONTENT_TYPE' => 'application/json' }
+            last_response.status.should == (verb == :post ? 201 : 200)
+            last_response.body.should eql MultiJson.dump(object)
           end
-          send verb, '/', MultiJson.dump(object), {'CONTENT_TYPE' => 'application/json'}
-          last_response.status.should == (verb == 'post' ? 201 : 200)
-          last_response.body.should eql '{}'
         end
       end
     end
diff --git a/spec/grape/validations/presence_spec.rb b/spec/grape/validations/presence_spec.rb
index 37b969dd7a..9231a6d5ab 100644
--- a/spec/grape/validations/presence_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/grape/validations/presence_spec.rb
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ class API < Grape::API
           requires :id, :regexp => /^[0-9]+$/
         end
         post do
-          {:ret => params[:id]}
+          { :ret => params[:id] }
         end
 
         params do
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ def app
   it 'does not validate for any params' do
     get("/bacons")
     last_response.status.should == 200
-    last_response.body.should == "All the bacon"
+    last_response.body.should == "All the bacon".to_json
   end
 
   it 'validates id' do
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ def app
 
     get('/', :name => "Bob", :company => "TestCorp")
     last_response.status.should == 200
-    last_response.body.should == "Hello"
+    last_response.body.should == "Hello".to_json
   end
 
   it 'validates nested parameters' do
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ def app
 
     get('/nested', :user => {:first_name => "Billy", :last_name => "Bob"})
     last_response.status.should == 200
-    last_response.body.should == "Nested"
+    last_response.body.should == "Nested".to_json
   end
 
   it 'validates triple nested parameters' do
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ def app
 
     get('/nested_triple', :admin => { :admin_name => 'admin', :super => {:user => {:first_name => "Billy", :last_name => "Bob"}}})
     last_response.status.should == 200
-    last_response.body.should == "Nested triple"
+    last_response.body.should == "Nested triple".to_json
   end
 
 end
diff --git a/spec/shared/versioning_examples.rb b/spec/shared/versioning_examples.rb
index 3ca6bb317e..b7898fe4d5 100644
--- a/spec/shared/versioning_examples.rb
+++ b/spec/shared/versioning_examples.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 shared_examples_for 'versioning' do
   it 'sets the API version' do
+    subject.format :txt
     subject.version 'v1', macro_options
     subject.get :hello do
       "Version: #{request.env['api.version']}"
@@ -9,7 +10,8 @@
   end
 
   it 'adds the prefix before the API version' do
-    subject.prefix 'api'
+    subject.format :txt
+    subject.prefix 'api'    
     subject.version 'v1', macro_options
     subject.get :hello do
       "Version: #{request.env['api.version']}"
@@ -58,6 +60,7 @@
   context 'with different versions for the same endpoint' do
     context 'without a prefix' do
       it 'allows the same endpoint to be implemented' do
+        subject.format :txt
         subject.version 'v2', macro_options
         subject.get 'version' do
           request.env['api.version']
@@ -79,7 +82,8 @@
     end
 
     context 'with a prefix' do
-      it 'allows the same endpoint to be implemented' do        
+      it 'allows the same endpoint to be implemented' do
+        subject.format :txt
         subject.prefix 'api'
         subject.version 'v2', macro_options
         subject.get 'version' do