Our Story

Life is Sweet

Buddha Fruit is a story of perseverance, passion & personal experience.

Nutritionist founder Charlotte made it her life mission to find a natural and healthy alternative to sugar that helps people stay healthy without the unfriendly side-effects.

She stumbled across luo han guo aka monk fruit on her travels through southeast Asia. Long revered by monks and Chinese medicine experts, this unassuming melon-type fruit is super sweet and super good. And best of all

– a little goes a long way. Remember this.

The Buddha Fruit Story

The Buddha Fruit brand came to life in 2017, but the seed was first sown in 2013 when founder Charlotte was studying Sport Biomedicine & Nutrition at university. She became fascinated with sugar’s impact on our bodies and overall health – particularly the impact of excess sugar and the importance of protein in our diet when it comes to muscular recovery post exercise.

Charlotte balanced a love of sport with a love of baking, and would regularly bake low sugar delights with an added scoop of protein powder. A source of frustration at this time was the fact that it was hard to find protein power that was 100% natural and classed as ‘uncontaminated’ by Informed Sport. Amazingly, 1 in 10 supplements are contaminated by WADA banned substances.

In 2016, Charlotte’s partner Scott, a passionate skier, started his Paralympic journey with the ambition to represent team GB in the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games. This re-focused her mission to source a 100% natural, low sugar protein powder certified by Informed Sport.

There was only one thing to do – fill the gap in the market with her own product. At the time, manufacturers used Stevia as their go-to natural sugar alternative, but it was thoughts to cause gastrointestinal distress in some people. This further fuelled Charlotte’s search for a good quality natural sugar alternative that was health-giving with no nasty side effects.

Her search took her to China where she stumbled across the marvellous and natural sweetener Monk Fruit aka Luo Han Guo extract. She soon realised that this little-known secret had been long held in high esteem by both Buddhist monks and Chinese Natural medicine practitioners.

So, Buddha Fruit, the brand was born and continues to go from strength to strength. Today, Charlotte & her team sell Buddha Fruit to lovers around the world.

The Longevity Fruit

The Monk Fruit Story

Luo han guo (Monk Fruit’s native name) was discovered by the Buddhist Monk’s thousands of years ago in the mountains of the Guilin area, Southern China. The monks believed that the sweet tasting fruit would bring long life, so it became known as the ‘longevity fruit.’

With its dense, steep mountains and optimal sunlight, the Guilin area is the perfect environment for the Monk Fruit to grow as it thrives in climates of about 60-80% humidity. Today the fruit is still grown in Guilin by the local farmers. The mountainous range is about 2 hours away from the nearest city which helps to avoid city pollution. Workers make the 45 min walk from the nearest villages to the plantation; amazingly, each plant requires a human hand to pollinate and enable it to grow.