Abstract: The invention relates to sweetening compositions obtained from the Luo Han Guo fruit, a member of the Cucurbiticeae family. The compositions are free of bitter-tasting impurities, have a light colour and contain about 16-75% mogroside V and about 30-95% total terpene glycosides on a dry weight basis. A filtered (0.2 ?m) solution of the composition in water with a solids content of 1% w/v has an absorbance at 420 nm of about 0.55 or below. Also disclosed is a method of preparing such compositions which includes a heating step to encourage the formation of melanoidins, highly coloured impurities, thereby permitting their removal by filtration providing a lighter coloured product.