Ingredient Overview
Monk fruit, known as Luo Han Guo, has a long association with Chinese food and herbal drinks. Mogrosides provide its distinctive sweetness, with mogroside V used as a marker for concentrated extracts.
Monk fruit extract is made from Siraitia grosvenorii fruit. The fruit’s sweetness comes largely from mogrosides, compounds that are distinct from ordinary fruit sugars. Concentrating that fraction creates an intense sweetening ingredient. It can be considered in drinks and foods together with other ingredients that provide bulk and texture, especially when the recipe uses less conventional sugar.