Sugar alternatives. Monk fruit. Natural sweeteners. And where the monk in monk fruit came from.
1-Minute NomNom
So you want something not so sweet (or NASA sweet :P?), but have concerns about artificial sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame, and sucralose, what can we do?
Consider sugar alternatives such as natural sweeteners. One of the most interesting natural sweeteners comes from a fruit that goes by the intriguing name of “monk fruit”. Known scientifically as Siraitia grosvenorii (what?!), it is a vine from the gourd family, and is found in southern China and northern Thailand.
The monk fruit is made up of up to 40% carbohydrates such as fructose and glucose. More importantly, its flesh contains a chemical compound called mogrosides and is 300x sweeter than sugar! These mogrosides are extracted and made into a natural sweetener that is also low-calorie.
The P&G Company was one of the first to patent a process for making a natural sweetener from monk fruit. More recently, research suggests it may have anti-oxidant and anti-cancer properties. Way before all these though, many Chinese families were already using the fruit to make cooling teas, herbal medicines, and to soothe sore throats (look at the photos here)!
That it is found in Thailand and China gives you an idea why it is called “monk fruit”. The name actually comes from its Chinese name 罗汉果, pronounced as (click on speaker icon after the “>>” in this link) luo han guo. 罗汉 (luo han) refers to the arhats, Buddhist monks who sought enlightenment. These monks often came to the places where the monk fruits were grown for their retreats, and hence the fruit became associated with them.
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