I’m really wary of artificial sweeteners, so try to limit my use of them. Instead, I prefer to use stevia. For those of you who also use stevia (I sure know not everyone likes it!), which brand do you prefer?
I’ve been trying a few different kinds, with varying success:
-Sweet Leaf, which I find a bit too bitter for me
-Truvia, which tastes a lot better, but also has some added sugar alcohols (erythritol), presumably for texture and/or flavor, making it a bit harder to digest and translating into 3g of carbs (per packet, each packet equal to 2 tsp sugar)
-Nu Naturals, which also tastes better, but I believe has some added maltodextrin–again, presumably for texture and/or flavor–coming out to something like 1g of carbs per packet equivalent
Since being diagnosed, I’ve only been using stevia in my tea, but at some point I’d like to experiment with using it in cooking too. If you’ve got a brand to recommend, I’d love to hear about it!
I have tried both Sweet Leaf and Truvia (and also some natural brands sold in a vitamin retailer before manufacturers in the U.S. caught on that it is the most widely-used sweetner in Japan (for decades, Japan banned artificial sweetners – they don’t today – so Brazilian manufacturers imported stevia to Japan). It is used as the sweetener for diet Coke and diet Pepsi sold in Japan and South Korea according to the press. In any event, I have tried different varieties and don’t really like the taste, but that is a personal preference. There is a long history of safe use with Stevia in South America and Asia.
NPR had a story about this in July, one thing to consider is that Truvia is merchandised by Cargill, ironically, one of the country’s largest producers of high-fructose corn syrup, which is anything but natural!
I’ve been told that one should purchase the liquid extract rather than the powder. That being said, though, I’ve only tried the following:
Superior Source® Sweet 'n Natural POWDER "Super Stevia Extract", which has the consistency of confectioner's sugar, contains lactose, is not nearly as sweet as advertised, and which has a bitter aftertaste, and
Trader Darwin's Stevia Packets, which work like a super-sweet version of name-your-granulated-sweetener-of-choice packets.
Hey Colleen. I use NOW brand(nowfoods.com) and it even comes in French Vanilla. I use it every day in my coffee. It comes in single serving packets,too. It seems the least bitter of the few I’ve tried. Since it is so sweet, Dr. Atkin’s book says to try using it (in baking and such) along with other sweeteners, to enhance the sweetness all together.(about half stevia and half Equal or Splenda) I love it and feel better using it as my sweetener of choice, because it’s natural. I think the jury’s still out on the Equal and Splenda safeness issue, although, when I’m out, I sometimes go with these two.
Jean
Thanks for the recommendations! I’ll have to see if I can find some of these. I did try the Trader Darwin packets, and I think they may be my favorite so far (it’s weird though that the two different containers of stevia you can buy are different from the packets).
Jean, I think I’ve heard the same thing about baking, to use stevia with other sweetners. Hopefully I can try it soon and report back!
