New Delhi, Oct. 23 -- There was a time when ordering a sugar-free dessert involved a certain amount of compromise. You knew why you were choosing it, but you also knew there was a fair chance the regular version would taste better. As monk fruit sweetener becomes more widely used in culinary circles, the distinction is blurring.

Monk fruit's attraction is straightforward. The extract gets its sweetness from compounds called mogrosides and is intensely sweet, so very little is needed. And in the right recipe, it can produce desserts that taste remarkably close to their sugar-sweetened counterparts, from cookies and ice creams to cheesecakes and even Indian mithais.

But can it really do everything sugar does? Not quite.

The trouble begin...