TheLuo Han Guo, Siraitia grosvenorii, also known as Longevity Fruit and Arhat Fruit, is a herbaceous fruit bearing vine, indigenous to southern China and Northern Thailand and it is best-known for its highly esteemed sweet fruits employed in medicinal uses, and as a sweetener.

Luo Han Guo is a perennial dioecious vine that grows 3-5 meters long, climbing over other plants by way of tendrils which twist round anything they touch. The plant is rarely found in the wild and has been cultivated for hundreds of years.

The Siraitia grosvenorii leaves are narrow, heart-shaped, 10-20cm long, entire. Flowers are yellow in color followed by a spherical fruit. The plant is one of four species in the genus Siraitia.

Luo Han Guo Fruit

The fruit of the Luo Han Guo is spherical with a hard but thin shell covered in down, 5-7cm in diameter that contains a sweet, fleshy, edible pulp and several seeds. It is seldom used in its fresh form, as it is hard to storage and it could develop undesirable flavors.

The fruit is harvested when still green which becomes brown when slowly dried out in ovens. In general it is sold in dried form and traditionally used in herbal teas, soups the Traditional Chinese Medicine and luohan guo supersaturated extracts.

The extract from the fruit, luohan guo, is nearly 300 times sweeter than sugar and has been used as a natural sweetener in China for almost a millennium owed to its flavor and low Caloric energy of only 960 kJ/100g or 230 kcal/g compared to granulated sugar which has 387 kcal/g or 1,619 kJ/100g.

Luo Han Guo Propagation Methods

Plant propagation is by seed with an almost 80% germination rate. Traditional farming methods call for some shade and cool/foggy conditions are well-tolerated. Siraitia grosvenorii is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family the genus Siraitia. The development of luohan guo products in China is focusing in particular on the direction of concentrated extracts.

Luo Han Guo, Siraitia grosvenorii

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