Do you like Stevia?

[groovy1]

Do you like Stevia extract? I have tried all the artificial sweeteners and think they may give me joint pain, so I try to stay away from them. However, I really like Stevia, which is a natural leaf. I tried multiple versions and found I really like the Now liquid Stevia extract as a sweetener in just about everything. You could add your own Stevia and some vanilla or lemon juice or some flavored extract to soda water or Seltzer or sparkling water and see if that hits the spot. If you haven't tried Stevia, it's probably worth checking out a few of the different versions: I also like the Sweetleaf Stevia Plus, but not as much, and I found that the supermarket stevia products like Purevia were not sweet to me and ruined the taste of my tea. But it seems that taste is very individual as far as these different products. Stevia seems to be very safe despite some early reservations by the FDA - it has been used for 30 years in Japan with no reported adverse effects. Some people suspect that the food industry was responsible for delaying the acceptance of stevia because it is a natural product and not a chemical that could be patented. I originally got my Now extract at my local health food store, but now I buy it online.

Best wishes to you,
Sherry

[marygrace]

Not a big fan, it tastes sort of bitter. I'd rather just go with sugar or honey when I want something sweet.

[BrightAngel]

No I don't like Stevia.
I continue to be a Splenda fan...and user.

[oliviamanda]

I have purchased Truvia from the supermarket before and I very much enjoyed it in hot drinks. I never use artificial sweeteners. I love that Stevia is natural and from a plant. It's super sweet so you only need a very small amount.

[wosnes]

Not a big fan, it tastes sort of bitter. I'd rather just go with sugar or honey when I want something sweet.

Ditto. Maple syrup, too.

[marygrace]

One other thing I don't really love about stevia is that it's starting to become super commercialized. It used to only be available from one or two small brands at natural food stores, but now Big Food has come out with Truvia. That sort of makes me not trust it, and now I expect that it'll be exploited (read: put into EVERYTHING) and it'll turn out to be bad for us just like every other miracle health food.

[groovy1]

One difference is that the stevia I use is the liquid extract from the whole leaf, which I love, although I know others do not like the taste of it. The commercial products are made from extracts of part of the leaf which the company claims is sweeter. I also don't trust the big chemical companies like Cargill - their products are mixtures of stevia with other chemicals. (I didn't mean to start a new thread with that post by the way--I was trying to respond to someone else's post and accidentally discovered that putting in a subject heading changed it to a new thread.) But I am satisfied that the stevia extract from the whole leaf is safe because it's been chewed as a leaf for thousands of years and used in Japan for 30 years and no adverse effects have shown up yet. But of course time will tell. And taste is so individual with these products.

I find if I sweeten my tea with Stevia I don't seem to need to eat sweet foods. Before No S I would put some type of sweetener on my breakfast most days, but because I am really trying to cut out all sweet foods on N days, I stopped doing that and I actually like it better. I think that is because of the sweet tea, but I'll just have to experiment.

[dmarie710]

I love Stevia. I buy Trader Joes brand and use it for a ton of things. Cereal, plain yogurt, cottage cheese, even toast with butter and cinnamon.

[connorcream]

I have Stevia (Sweet leaf), pink sweet & low, Splenda & Xylitol along with regular sugar and honey out all the time for family & guests.

My personal prefernece is Splenda. There is no after taste and I can cook with it (oatmeal and egg whites pancakes).

You get to choose:-)

[oolala53]

I love having stevia to use, too. I first used it 20 years ago through a health food company that said it helps to regulate blood sugar, but who knows. I find that if I use it with about a half teaspoon of real sugar in coffee and such, it tastes really good. I use it most often without sugar, though. Sometimes I use it when I use frozen berries that turn out not to be very sweet. I can use it and still find a regular piece of fruit to be plenty sweet. However, I don't have it at every meal.

Truvia is not pure stevia. I wonder about the process that is supposed to remove the bitter side taste. Erythritol, the other ingredient in Truvia, has to be eaten in large amounts to cause the problems that sorbitol and xylitol cause, but I sure don't like the name. Couldn't they have come up with something? We don't say "Pass the sucrose!"

i'm not a purist and will use just about anything on occasion, but less and less of the pink and yellow package stuff as time goes on. I just need the taste of sweet less and if it's an S day, I'll just have the sugar version anyway.

[marygrace]

Truvia is not pure stevia. I wonder about the process that is supposed to remove the bitter side taste. Erythritol, the other ingredient in Truvia, has to be eaten in large amounts to cause the problems that sorbitol and xylitol cause, but I sure don't like the name. Couldn't they have come up with something? We don't say "Pass the sucrose!"

I'm glad they call erythritol by it's real name--maybe it'll make more people think twice about using Truvia. Plenty of margarines are essentially partially-hydrogenated oils--it's a shame they don't just call it what it really is.

[Elspeth]

I've been experimenting with stevia in my coffee and black tea. (I drink white and green tea unsweetened.) So far I've tried Stevita and Sweetleaf. Neither was bitter, though both have a noticeable aftertaste. I prefer to use the smallest amount of stevia possible, just a few drops, to slightly sweeten the drink.

[Mom In High Heels]

I've tried Stevia, but it always leaves a weird aftertaste in my mouth. I absolutely refuse to use any kind of artificial sweetener and thought Stevia might be an acceptable alternative. No, no it is not. Ick. I drink tea with breakfast and put 2 sugar cubes in. That's all of 30 calories. I drink water the rest of the day (I drink enough to refloat the Titanic), so I decided I could indulge in 2 sugar cubes.

[sincitylulu]

I don't use artificial sweeteners anymore. I have tried Stevia and it was okey. I'd rather have real sugar. I don't use any sugar in my teas. I have learned to enjoy them without sweetness. I do however add a tsp of sugar to my morning lattes. By the way I read an article some where that Stevia has been banned in Eurorpe, i think.

[oolala53]

re: stevia ban in Europe

"The European Commission banned stevia when a study showed that steviol, a breakdown product from stevioside and rebaudiaside, may cause mutations in the presence of a liver extract of pre-treated rats. Unfortunately the researchers in the study appear to have mishandled data so badly that even water might appear mutagenic.

Too bad. Once stevia was banned in Europe, it would only be allowed back in after extensive (and expensive) tests that most companies wouldn't be interested in performing, because as we mentioned, stevia isn't patentable. The European Commission, in a 1999 review of stevia said, "No appropriate data were presented to enable the safety of the commercial plant product to be evaluated." Until the European Commission gets more data, stevia may not be used in food in the European Union. It has also been banned in Singapore and Hong Kong.

As of August, 2006, there have been no conclusive studies showing stevia has any harmful effects on humans. It has been used by millions of Japanese people for over 30 years and generations of people in South America with no reported or known harmful effects."

http://www.webefit.com/articles_100_199 ... eet01.html

[paulawylma]

I love some stevia and hate others. When I first tried stevia about 10 years ago, it was one of the health store brands that tasted bitter. then I tried a different brand that tasted great. As far as Truvia is concerned I think it is too sweet and though I like Stevia in the Raw, I am concerned with the ingredient they cut it with. All commerical stevia, including the health food store brands are cut with something to make it easier to mix. My favorite health store brand is cut with inulin (not sure what it is but it really only mixes well with hot beverages). Last summer I grew my own stevia. It turns out that the sweetness of stevia varies from plant to plant. If you use the leaf, you have to crush the leaf to release the sweetness. If you dry stevia, use a dehydrator made for herbs--I messed up here and dried it in the oven--if you dry it slowly a lot of the sweetness disappears. I discovered that you can use dried leaf to sweeten things like hot chocolate, but it doesn't blend well--I ended up with a bunch of little green specks floating on top of my hot chocolate. My experient with using it to bake failed completely. Some webstes give directions for making your own stevia syrup which is supposed to be better for cooking and baking. But it sounds like too much trouble for me.

Everyone's taste buds are different. Both Saracinn and Aspartame taste bitter to me and Splenda--well I have problems with it similiar to what I have with olestra, except not as severe.

Now that I'm back on No S, I'll probably go back to using sugar, unless I get concerned about cavities. I may try growing Stevia again this summer, but if I do, I'll just use the fresh leaves. BTW, stevia is easy to grow if you buy a plant from a nursey. I grew mine in a 12" pot. It needed more water than my other potted plants and after it grew to more than a foot, it needed support (adult plants are about 18 to 24" tall).

[cab54]

I think Stevia makes everything taste vaguely like licorice. I like licorice, but not in my iced tea.