DESCRIPTION

Monk Fruit Extract occurs as an off-white to light yellow powder. It is an extract of the fruit luo han guo (Siraitia grosvenorii Swingle, also known as monk fruit) that has been concentrated to optimize the concentration of mogroside V. It is obtained through water extraction of the mechanically crushed or shredded pulp of the fruit. The precipitate is removed by decanting, and the supernatant is cooled and passed through a food-grade copolymer resin which binds the target compounds. The resin is flushed with cold ethanol to release the extracted compounds, and the effluent is heated under vacuum to remove the ethanol, then spray dried. Monk Fruit Extract is composed primarily of cucurbitane glycosides, known as mogrosides, with mogroside V being the principal sweetening component. Other components are mogroside II, mogroside III, mogroside IV, mogroside VI, flavonoids, melanoidins, and protein fragments. Monk Fruit Extract is freely soluble in water. Although not a requirement for this monograph, users interested in analyzing this ingredient for potential pesticide residues may use the informational method found under Pesticide Residues in Appendix XIII.