stevita - stevia sweetener
Stevia Products: Review
Here are the results of our first stevia product tests. We have distributed stevia products to various testers and will continue to update this page as the results come in.
Stevia is the common name for stevia
rebaudiana, an herb used as a replacement for sugar or other non-nutritionative
sweeteners. The resulting extract from the stevia plant is roughly ten times
sweeter than sugar. Both of the Stevita products are made in Brazil and certified
organic.
Price (at the time of writing)
Stevita Liquid - 1.35
fluid ounces $4.95 U.S.
Stevia Powder - 2.8 ounces $$7.65
U.S.
Serving sizes
and servings per container
Serving
size Stevita Liquid - 1/8 teaspoon. 64 servings per container
Stevia
Powder - 1/2 teaspoon. 66 servings per container
Ingredients / Calories
Stevita Liquid -
15 mg stevia rebaudiana leaves
Other ingredients, distilled water and
grapefruit seed extract as a preservative. Calories per
serving 0
Stevia powder - 96% concentration from stevia
leaves
Other ingredients, tapioca maltodextrin (bulking agent), silicon
dioxide (anti-caking agent). Calories per serving
0
Coffee/Tea sweetener
We added
two drops of the Stevita liquid to a 6 ounce cup of coffee and found it to be
sufficiently sweet. This amount of sweetener was equal to about 1 teaspoon to
1.5 teaspoons of sugar. Even at this low rate we could detect an "aftertaste"
and a slight "herbal" flavor.
One tester has a real sweet tooth. He put
5 drops in his 6 ounce cup of coffee. This is very sweet and at this rate the
aftertaste was very pronounced.
It is too early in our testing to reach
any conclusions other than it is a sugar substitute for people who have dietary
reasons to eliminate or reduce sugar from their diet. If you do not like the
artificial sweeteners then you may not like stevia either.
November 26, 2001, from Diane Smith:
"I use stevia and tupelo honey exclusively to
sweeten.
With stevia, I use the packets, like artificial sweetener
packets.
For an entire cake to replace all sugar I use 3 packets.
I
found I was using way too much stevia initially. For coffee, it is a few grains, not a full packet. The same holds true for those who
like orange juice sweetened.
I use a portion of the packet. When cutting back further and further in the
amounts the herbal taste disappears.
I made a banana cake from a stevia
recipe book. It was a bit dry for I tried to also make it non-fat. I used 3
packets of stevia for the entire cake. Then I made a pineapple sauce, cut fresh
mango and sprinkled coconut over the cake. My guests loved it. When I first
tasted the cake fresh from the oven, it did not taste sweet. As it sat
overnight, the sweetness became more and more pronounced."