In extracts prepared from various fruits as well as in fruit juices a single tryptophan glycoconjugate was detected by HPLC-MS analysis. Product ion spectra demonstrated the N-glycosidic linkage of a hexose moiety to the indole nitrogen. For structure elucidation, the novel tryptophan glycoside was isolated from pear juice and identified as N(1)-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(4)C(1))-L-tryptophan by (1)H, HH-COSY and (13)C NMR spectroscopy. Finally, we disclosed the biosynthetic origin of the novel tryptophan metabolite by demonstrating the enzymatic glycosylation of deuterium-labeled tryptophan, which was applied to pear fruit.