— Hilda P J

I'd like to know what your niece, she has a bakery, she's using monk fruit. Does she find it behaves differently from other sugars? Monk fruit is what is called an NSS, a non-sugar sugar. And I have done live events on this topic because I don't personally use them. There are many reasons I don't use them. They do behave differently. They are very much sweeter than a coconut sugar or an organic cane sugar. So there's a lot that has to go on. They bake very differently. I think the texture of products that are made with these sweeteners are different, and I for sure know that people have been concerned or say, "They're really bothering my tummy." That there are digestive issues. So if your niece is using them, I would sure like to know what she has to say. But the answer, in a nutshell, is yes, it's very different. Everything about them is different, including the baking time. And if you're using monk fruit, let's say a recipe calls for a quarter of a cup of granulated sweetener, you're probably using two teaspoons of monk fruit. And is she using liquid or granulated? Monk fruit is a very highly processed non-sugar sugar. It comes from a plant called luo han. It's a berry. And I'm quite familiar with this because many years ago, I was asked to develop some recipes for a food company that was working with a manufacturer that wanted to have this sweetener in their beverage. And what I learned was that this luo han berry, kind of like quinoa, has a very bitter, awful flavor to keep the birds away from it so it can grow. And in order to get rid of that flavor, and process this into a powder or a liquid, a lot goes on. So I'm not the food police. If somebody wants to use the non-sugar sugars, then go ahead and use them. But, I just personally don't.