Many years ago, I bought some stevia powder (white in color) that was to be disolved in with water for use that tasted fine. But it was pricey.... Ok, found the bottle in the cabinet which says it’s 100% pure concentrated extract of Stevia and has no other ingredients.
A few months ago I tried Truvia which has Erythritol added. I’m guessing it’s the Erythritol that makes it tastes so awful.
Then I tried Only Sweet which only shows the only other ingredients as “Natural flavor” but on the front label states it’s stevia mixed with “maltodextrin and natural flavors”. Maltodextrin is also mixed with Splenda (yeah, I know Splenda isn’t stevia). Only Sweet tastes ok but I don’t want the maltodextrin.
Right now I’m trying Stevia in the Raw in some coffee. It is stevia mixed with dextrose (also in Splenda). It tastes ok but again wanting to get away from dextrose. Why? I dunno, just because.
I guess I just want to get away from all those extra ingredients and I can’t see spending $6 for a wee little 2 oz box of sweetener if I can grow it in the garden. Ok, I can see steeping the home grown stevia leaves for tea but I’m guessing powdered dried stevia would be green/brown and not so pretty in cooking. I’m guessing the store bought stuff has been steeped in water and then dehydrated or crystalized somehow and maybe bleached to color (or would that be de-colored) it white.
Bottom line, if you experiment with it more, please give me a heads up.
Thanks.
Okay. Yes I would like to avoid additives if possible. Most of the sugar in the USA is made from sugar beets and a lot of the commercial sugar beets are GMO, which is not something I am fond of partaking in.
Like I said, I now just don’t add sugar to any thing anymore if I can avoid it, more for health reasons than additive reasons. My taste buds have reset, and now I don’t even like stuff that is really sweet. When I drink a cola, I cut it with club soda, because the soda is too sweet.
I drink tea with lemon and no sugar or stevia added.
The book does have recipes to use the green powdered stevia that you can make yourself.
I will be trying it again, but I’ll be ordering a plant to get started faster. Will keep you posted, but it will probably be a long time before I have enough crop to try any of the recipes. I am adverse to the high prices too.