A guide to choosing the best sugars, syrups, and sweeteners for you
A guide to choosing the best sugars, syrups, and sweeteners for you
YOUR SWEETENER BUYING GUIDE
By Adriane Campos
MONK FRUIT
• 2023 BUYING GUIDE •
On my quest to discover all zero-calorie monk fruit sweeteners available to you on store shelves, I found about 100 products. See the complete list and how they compare.
First, What Is Monk Fruit?
Sugar substitutes commonly known as monk fruit contain extracts from the fruit of a perennial vine—the Siraitia grosvenorii Swingle. Grown only in China, the plant is in the cucumber and melon family, and the fruit has the size and shape of a lemon. The Guilin area offers optimal and unique growing environment for the plant due to it's subtropical mountains with elevation of 300 to 500 meters, abundant rainfall, and well drained moist soil.
Chemically speaking, the sweet components extracted from monk fruit are called mogrosides. Many mogrosides (named I, II, III, IV, V, and VI) are present in amounts that vary from 0.5 to 3.8 percent in the dried fruit.
Mogroside V is the major sweet component in extracts from ripened fruits and is also the sweetest of all—100 to 250x sweeter than table sugar. According to a producer, with a farm and processing facilities in Guilin, almost 85 pounds of monk fruit produce one pound of extract.
On this page, you'll see all the zero-calorie monk fruit products and brands I found in stores. Because you have so many choices, I sorted them based on their ingredients—from pure extract to blends. You may choose to buy them in solid form (granulated, tablets, cubes) or liquid (drops and syrups), so keep reading to find out which one is best for you.
MONK FRUIT BRANDS & PRODUCTS
There is A LOT to see here. Scroll down to explore it all or, if you are short on time, make your choice below:
Click the Try it button of each sweetener to be linked to Amazon
where you can read reviews, labels, Q&As, and price.
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BULK-FREE SWEETENERS
Is There a Monk Fruit Without Any Additives or Fillers?
The first monk fruit sweeteners I list contain pure fruit extract. They are super sweet, so a little goes a long way. Many products come with their own little measuring spoons, but if they don't, you can buy your own mini measuring spoon set or a complete set like this one. Start with the amount recommended by the seller and adjust to taste.
Use monk fruit pure extract for sweetening purposes only and not for other culinary roles.
Can you bake with pure monk fruit or substitute it for sugar? Yes, but keep in mind that they don't offer bulk (volume and weight). They don't contribute to texture, shelf life, moisture retention, color, and aroma. They are perfect for coffee, tea, and other drinks. And that's why the vast majority of sweeteners you'll find in stores are not pure extract. Keep scrolling down to see how most products are blends of extracts with a bulk sweetener.
The sweetness and color of pure monk fruit crystals vary depending on the mogroside V concentration in the extract—from 7 to 50 percent. Mogroside V50 means an extract with a 50:50 ratio mogroside V and fruit pulp. It is whiter and the sweetest of all extracts I've found in stores. Mogroside V25 has about half the sweetness and a light beige color. Crystals' size ranges from medium (sugar-like) to coarse (demerara-like).
Does Monk Fruit Come In Liquid Form?
Liquid monk fruit sweeteners are blends of monk fruit extract and water. Flavors, preservatives, or both are often added to improve taste and maintain freshness. Some products have other ingredients (glycerin, erythritol, or maltodextrin) to mask off-flavors. Monk fruit syrups contain gums to make them viscous.
Monk fruit drops and syrups are mainly recommended for sweetening purposes as they provide no bulk (volume and mass) to our recipes. Liquid monk fruit works best in foods that don't require sugars for texture, shelf life, moisture retention, color, and aroma. They offer a convenient way to sweeten coffee, tea, and other drinks on-the-go.
BULK SWEETENERS
Why is Monk Fruit Combined With Erythritol?
I'm often asked, Why is monk fruit mixed with erythritol and other sweeteners? The reason is monk fruit extracts in pure form are super sweet. A good rule of thumb is just 1/64 of a teaspoon of monk fruit extracts is as sweet as 1 teaspoon of sugar. Because they provide a sweet taste with tiny volume & weight, sugar substitutes often need bulk sweeteners to have an overall resemblance to table sugar. (learn more here >>>)
The most common bulk sweeteners in monk fruit products are erythritol and allulose. You may also find monk fruit blended with glucose, maltodextrin, and inulin. Bulk sweeteners not only improve the taste of monk fruit extracts but also make it easier for you to measure sugar substitutes at home. Instead of having to measure or weigh minuscule amounts, you can use the measuring tools you have in your kitchen.
Common questions I get include: How do I substitute monk fruit for sugar? How much monk fruit equals one teaspoon (cup or tablespoon) of sugar? The answer depends on the product you are using.
Some monk fruit sweeteners are 1:1 sugar replacements, i.e., spoon for spoon, they are as sweet as table sugar. Others are 2:1 (2 teaspoons of sugar is as sweet as 1 teaspoon of monk fruit) up to 12:1. To find out how sweet a product is, you need to pay attention not only to the brand but also the type.
For example, the Lakanto brand has several types of monk fruit sweeteners—Classic, Golden, Powdered, Baking, Organic, Pure Extract, Lakanto Liquid, Simple Syrup, Classic Packets, Golden Packets—and they don't always have the same sweetness. On this page, all infographics list the product's amount needed to replace ONE teaspoon of sugar.
Monk Fruit Sweeteners
WITH ERYTHRITOL
Do all monk fruit sweeteners have erythritol? No, but most do. I've found about 50 monk fruit erythritol blends and list them here. Erythritol (Ah-REETH-ra-tall) is currently one of the most popular sweeteners. It's promoted as "natural," zero-calories, tooth-friendly, well-tolerated in the digestive system, and has zero effect on blood sugar levels. However, it's less sweet than table sugar and creates a cooling (cold) sensation when dissolved in the mouth—which feels like we are sucking a mint (without the mint flavor). When blended with monk fruit, erythritol's taste is improved.
I wrote extensively about erythritol in two blog posts. This is a short one: Erythritol: Powdered vs. Granulated. This is a long one: Sweetener Review: Erythritol | Is it Really "Natural" and The Perfect Sweetener?. I also have a page called Erythritol Buying Guide, where I showcase all sweeteners containing erythritol in stores in 2023.
What's Golden Monk Fruit?
Golden or gold monk fruit is a replacement for raw sugar, and NOT regular light brown sugar. Crystals are dry, free-flowing, and look like demerara sugar. They differ from brown sugar replacements, which have glycerine or a touch of molasses to give an overall look and texture similar to regular light brown sugar. Learn the difference between raw & light brown sugars by reading my Complete Guide to Brown Sugars.
What's Powdered Monk Fruit?
Granulated vs. Crystalized vs. Powdered Monk Fruit. Monk fruit sweeteners come in a variety of crystals size—from granulated and crystallized, to powdered. What one seller calls granulated monk fruit, might be called crystallized by another. Powdered monk fruit, as the name implies, is a replacement for regular powdered sugar as it contains finely ground erythritol or allulose combined with monk fruit extract. Granulated monk fruit is usually the same as crystallized and their crystals look more like table sugar. Learn all about powdered sugar replacements HERE.
Monk Fruit Sweeteners
WITH ALLULOSE
Monk Fruit Sweeteners
BROWN SUGAR REPLACEMENT
Brown sugar replacements provide the aroma, sweetness, and texture of regular brown sugar, but without all the calories and sugar content. They are one-to-one substitutes for LIGHT brown sugar. Learn more by visiting my Brown Sugar Replacement page.
Monk Fruit Sweeteners
POWDERED SUGAR REPLACEMENT
Monk fruit sweeteners with fine crystals are referred to as powdered sugar replacements. As the name implies, they look a lot like regular confectioners or powdered sugar. The most common products in stores contain finely ground erythritol or allulose combined with monk fruit extract. Learn more by visiting my Powdered Sugar Replacement page.
IS MONK FRUIT SAFE?
Yes, monk fruit extracts have been approved as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) ingredients. As opposed to what most people say, it is not a food additive. You'll find monk fruit extracts sold in stores with various mogroside V content—from 7 to 50 percent. If you are looking for details on how extracts are made, refer to each GRAS notice submitted by the manufacturer for FDA review. Monk fruit extracts are approved by the Food and Drug Administration as "natural" non-nutritive sweeteners (0 cal/g).
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