grosvenorii

Siraitia grosvenorii, commonly known as Luo Han Guo or monk fruit, is a species of flowering plant in the Cucurbitaceae family. It is a perennial climbing vine native to southern China, particularly Guangxi, where it has been cultivated for centuries for its fruit and medicinal properties.

Description and distribution: The plant has slender, trailing vines with lobed leaves and small yellow-green flowers. The fruit is a round to oval berry that, when dried, becomes dark brown and wrinkled. In traditional uses, the dried fruit is often prepared as a tea or tonic.

Chemical composition and sweetness: The dried fruit contains mogrosides, a group of intensely sweet compounds. Mogroside V is the major component and is typically hundreds to thousands of times sweeter than sucrose, with negligible calories. Other mogrosides contribute to varying sweetness profiles. The fruit’s sweetness is often described as clean and cool, with occasional aftertaste at high concentrations.

Uses and applications: In traditional Chinese medicine, Luo Han Guo is used to soothe coughs, relieve throat irritation, and address heat-related symptoms. In modern food production, mogrosides are extracted to produce monk fruit sweeteners, used as zero- or low-calorie sugar substitutes in beverages, dairy, and baked goods, among other products. The extracts are marketed in powders, liquids, and standardized concentrates.

Taxonomy: The species epithet grosvenorii honors a person with the surname Grosvenor. The plant remains primarily associated with East Asian horticulture and traditional medicine, but its sweetener extracts have achieved broad commercial use worldwide.