Many companies hail to Stevia, the zero calorie sweetener, to make their foods taste like there's actual sugar in it when there really isn't. A little bit of this packs a punch and sometimes it can leave you with a funny aftertaste. Many companies still opt for Stevia, but others are trying for other varieties of sweeteners, like monk fruit. Most people have not heard of monk fruit but it's recently been a staple piece in terms of producing sugar free, vegan chocolate, without an artificial aftertaste or sweet tooth overload. Monk fruit chocolate is on the rise and we're here to give you all the details on it.
What is Monk Fruit?
What exactly is monk fruit? Monk fruit, or Luo Han Guo, is a fruit that is native to southern China and Thailand. The fruit has been growing in these areas for over one hundred years and has served culinary purpose and medicinal purposes in China. Today, the fruit is famous for sweetness. When compared to sugar, monk fruit is approximately 250 times sweeter with less than the amount of calories of regular sugar. This has often led to people substituting out sugar or zero calorie sweeteners, and jumping to monk fruit in an attempt to curb artificial tastes and sugar crashes.
Monk Fruit Sweetened Chocolate
Companies like Lakanto have been primary implementers of this fruit extract to make their chocolate sweet without the added sugar. Lakanto's chocolate is also vegan, dairy free, gluten-free am has a glycemic index of zero, which is an indication that their product is diabetic friendly. All of the accommodations to the chocolate may make it seem like the texture of their chocolate would be strange but fear not! The chocolate has a creamy, melt-in-your mouth texture, as well as a subtle hint of fruitiness from their Arriba Nacional cacao beans; a trio that you really cannot beat!
Where Do I Buy?
Lakanto does not strictly advertise for the plant based community and they make sure that they offer their product to anyone who is searching for a sugar alternative by selling their product in popular grocers like Whole Foods, Jewel Osco and Amazon. People are able to access the world of monk fruit sweetened items by just going down the street to their nearest grocer and not some hole-in-the-wall, expensive health food store that caters to only one demographic.
Artificial sweeteners don't have to have an icky aftertaste or be overly sweet to satisfy your tastebuds. Multiple companies offer zero calorie/stevia alternatives, like Lakanto, and are pushing for the advancement of monk fruit inspired sweeteners in chocolate, as well as other dishes. Once you try it, you'll never want to go back to the zero calorie sweeteners again!