What Is Monk Fruit Sweetener? And Can I Use It in My Coffee?

When I was a kid, I was a sugar fiend. My grandma had a bowl of those little sugar cubes that you put into your tea and I ate those things. I’d just pick them up and straight eat them raw. Well, it turns out that all that sugar is bad for you! Who knew? I just thought it would rot my teeth. These days, there’s all sorts of sugar substitutes and the one that is the most fun to say is monk fruit sweetener. But what is monk fruit sweetener? Is it made of monkeys? Can you use monk fruit sweetener in coffee? Does monk fruit sweetener dissolve? Does it have anything to do with Tony Shalhoub? Join me on this journey as we find out how to use monk fruit sweetener.

What is monk fruit sweetener? 

Monk fruit sweetener is a sugar alternative. It’s become a popular sugar substitute because of its many benefits: It’s 150 to 200 times sweeter than sugar so you can use much less of it, and it metabolizes differently in your body. It does not affect blood glucose, allowing diabetics to enjoy a sweet treat, and it has zero calories.

What is monk fruit? 

Monk fruit is a small, melon-like fruit that grows in southern China. People don’t eat it raw; it’s grown just to be processed for sweetener. Monk fruit contains a compound called mogrosides. We can taste sweetness from this stuff because the mogroside’s carbon and hydrogen molecules have glucose molecules attached to them. Our mouths taste the glucose but it’s not absorbed into our bloodstream, instead it goes into the large intestine. That’s how we perceive the sweetness of monk fruit and get its benefits.  

How do you use monk fruit sweetener? 

You can use monk fruit sweetener the same way you would use sugar: Sprinkle it on fruit. Put it in your tea to make sweet tea. Can you use monk fruit sweetener in coffee? Heck yes, you can use monk fruit sweetener in coffee! Once you pour it into your tea or coffee, monk fruit sugar dissolves quickly. Put it in a cocktail! Bake with it! Bathe in it! You don’t bathe in sugar? Just me? Sorry. 

Since it can be sweeter than regular sugar, it’s best to start with a scaled back amount of monk fruit sweetener and add more to taste. And, like almost all sugar alternatives, monk fruit can have a little bit of an aftertaste. So don’t expect it to taste exactly like sugar. 

How long does monk fruit last?

Monk fruit sweetener keeps for a while as well. It will last two to three years if stored in cool and dry conditions. 

What types of monk fruit sweetener exist?

Monk fruit sugar has become one of the most popular sugar alternatives on the market and it is available in many different varieties. It’s sold as a liquid, powdered, and granulated. It’s packaged on its own or mixed with other sweeteners to temper its intense sweetness, such as stevia or erythritol. You can even get brown monk fruit sweetener as a brown sugar replacement. 


About the Author

Will Morgan

Will Morgan, a freelance contributor to Sporked, is an L.A. based writer, actor, and sketch comedy guy. Originally from Houston, TX, he strongly believes in the superiority of breakfast tacos to breakfast burritos. Will traveled the world as one of those people that did yoyo shows at elementary school assemblies, always making a point to find local and regional foods to explore in whatever place he was, even in rinky-dink towns like Tilsonberg, ON. Will spends his birthdays at Benihana’s. Let him know if can make it.

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