Sweetener plant

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Sweetener plants are plants from which non- sugar natural sweeteners are obtained.

Sweetener plants

Natural herbal sweeteners often have a sweetening power that is many times stronger than that of sucrose from sugar plants , as the following table shows. The sweetening ingredients of these plants are glycosides (stevioside, mogroside, glycyrrhizin), proteins (brazzein, thaumatin), glycoproteins (miraculin, monellin) or sesquiterpenes (hernandulcin).

plant Sweetening ingredient Sweetness
compared to sucrose (= 1) 
Stevia rebaudiana Stevioside 70-450
Aztec sweet herb Hernandulcin 1,250
Pentadiplandra brazzeana (Oubli) Brazzein 500-2,000
Luo Han Guo Mogroside 200-300
Katamfe Thaumatin 2,000-3,000
Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii Monellin 1,000
licorice Glycyrrhizin 50

use

The sweetener plants, especially stevia, are gaining in importance because they are seen as a healthier alternative to sucrose (see the article on Stevia rebaudiana ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. G. Franke (Ed.): Useful plants of the tropics and subtropics. Volume 3: Special crop production. Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart-Hohenheim 1994, ISBN 3-8001-2667-2 , p. 409 ff.