Truvia, a New Natural Sweetener
"Haha! I told you so!" my mother called as she trotted to the kitchen to retrieve her small glass vial and eye dropper, dripping triumph as she went. Oh, to be home for the holidays. "I've been using stevia for years!"
We had just seen the television ad for Truvia, the new natural no-calorie sweetener made from this herb, which is also known as sweetleaf. Have any of you seen it? Unable to allow my mother to be right—God forbid—I decided to do some research. Turns out, the stuff sounds pretty amazing.
The stevia plant contains rebiana, a naturally sweet substance, which is captured and put into sugarlike packets and sold as Truvia. My mother's stevia-of-yesterday is a liquid that comes in a small glass jar.
Truvia is a powder, like sugar. Like all no-calorie sweeteners, Truvia is sweeter than sugar, with one packet equaling two teaspoons. And while bulk amounts of Truvia are not yet available, you can bake with the new substance and the Truvia website instructs us to look out for this next product on the shelves of Whole Foods markets.
Me? I've always believed in using real sugar—not too much, but keep it real. Perhaps I am my mother's daughter after all and will switch to Truvia, at least part of the time, like in my tea, where I resolutely refuse to add calories. I like that they rip off Matthew Arnold for their "Sweetness and Light" slogan. Very erudite.
My only concern is whether Truvia tastes different from plain ol' sugar. But it is reassuring to see us moving away from the sweet white powders as addictive to my friends as cocaine, and toward something a bit more natural. I'm happy that a bit of green sidling up next to the pink, blue, and yellow in the sugar box. Has anyone tried it? What have you heard about it?
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20 Comments:
My mother uses stevia leaves in iced tea.. its good! The leaves are SUPER sweet.. huh..
seikel at 10:04AM on 12/30/08
I used stevia in my coffee for years, I purchased a box of the Truvia recently but havent tried it yet.
huneybumper at 10:24AM on 12/30/08
I'm not sure how Truvia is different from regular old stevia, but stevia is OK. It really is super-sweet and has the same slightly bitter, "this is clearly not sugar" taste as other sugar substitutes, but works fine for things like tea.
Weirdsmobile at 10:24AM on 12/30/08
Truvia is not pure stevia--if you look on the label it also contains a sugar alcohol.
HeartofGlass at 10:29AM on 12/30/08
This reads like a press release. What is rebiana? What does "captured" mean? I'm not declaring it bad, I simply don't know anything about it from reading this.
ccbweb at 10:40AM on 12/30/08
I tried stevia a while back because i wanted to get away from Equal, which is my normal sweetener (and not so healthy >>). i thought it was GROSS. I could barely choke down the coffe I'd put it in, and i think i threw out most of the box I'd bought. But i'll give this stuff a try if I see it - more natural alternatives to chemical sweeteners are better for me!
teenagefoodie at 10:54AM on 12/30/08
I tried some beverages that were made with Stevia and thought they were truly awful. Much much worse than the overSplenda'd beverages out there. They had a very strong chemical aftertaste which didn't change with deep chilling or room temping. (I owned a cafe and we were checking out all the trendy bevs.)
Personally, I think if you are just looking to sweeten coffee, tea, etc. and don't have any medical issues that would prevent it, sugar is the way to go considering how little you are actually using. If you are looking for a substitute on a larger scale, like for baking, then experiment by using about 10% less of the product than recommended in the recipes and you might find that you lose some of the aftertaste.
I will certainly watch for stevia products and give them a chance in another venue but based on my experience so far (five different drinks from two different manufacturers) I would say it's not going to be the holy grail................
Bhc62 at 11:26AM on 12/30/08
I heard that Coca Cola® in the US uses this "Truvia" brand stevia in a new line of "green" drinks--dieline.com
I'm anti-artificial sweetner not just because of the health risks; but it just tastes wrong. I'm confused over stevia because this seems natural, on the other-hand why haven't we discovered this yet? But Kerry; your mom used it for years? Interesting...
hungrychristel at 11:44AM on 12/30/08
@ hungrychristel - It's not that it hasn't been "discovered", it's just that it only just got approved by the FDA. You can read a little about the politics at Marion Nestle's blog - http://whattoeatbook.com/tag/stevia/
Vincci at 11:48AM on 12/30/08
thanks muchly vincci!
hungrychristel at 11:57AM on 12/30/08
I tried the new Odwalla pomegranate strawberry drink with this stuff. Nasty. Probably not much diff for Splenda lovers, but not tasty for anyone who is averse to artificial sweeteners.
synaesthesia.dc at 12:09PM on 12/30/08
meh, if I'm going to get away from sugar give me agave anyday
GretchinF at 1:33PM on 12/30/08
This is already in stores, right? Why don't you try it and let us know?
Michele Humes at 1:38PM on 12/30/08
I'm with you, GretchinF--I had used stevia off and on over the past 20 years, but have always been put off by the hypersweetness and the aftertaste. Weird how the natural (and it IS) alternative to sugar would taste more chemically than even the artificials! Agave, though, is smooooooth. I will probably try a packet of Truvia in my iced tea once i find it in local restaurants, but only to see if that bitter/chemical edge is tempered down from "regular" stevia.
BobbieAnne at 1:40PM on 12/30/08
Why is it surprising that a natural non-sugar sweetener would taste more chemically then a lab-derived one? Both are still just chemicals, reacting with receptors in your taste buds. There's really nothing magical and inherently better about plant derived or naturally occurring chemicals as opposed to lab derived ones. Granted, the evidence seems to point to Stevia being a save sugar alternative, but that has little to do with it being plant-derived.
hdaemon at 2:36PM on 12/30/08
Okay, I don't want to argue or form some kind of conspiracy of doubt regarding this but "...FDA must have resolved its doubts about the science supporting the safety of Stevia, even though much of it was corporate-sponsored."
I'm totally scared to jump to conclusions on the safety of stuff like this...they're obviously not too sure yet. Aspertame is considered "OK to eat" even though there are several third-party sponsored tests that confirm the exact opposite results as the corporate-sponsored tests...
...I'm not trying to tick anyone off but--TRUST NO ONE [who is paid]! haha
hungrychristel at 4:37PM on 12/30/08
I saw Truvia at the store a few months ago and decided to try it out and see if I'd like it. I used it in my morning yogurt, in place of my normal packet of Splenda. HUGE MISTAKE!!! It had the worst after taste that I couldn't get rid of for hours and hours. It was weirdly bitter. I don't dare try it in my coffee, blech! In the end I'll stick with the small amount of Splenda I use, or just use regular sugar.
Shels01 at 6:21PM on 12/30/08
A summary of how we got from sugar and honey to here:
The (un)Natural History of Sweet - From Sugar to Stevia
fooducate at 12:39PM on 12/31/08
Also read the info at eco-chick.com about Stevia, why it was banned for so long and who was behind it. I like pure Stevia in tea but wonder about manufactured food products (cookies, etc.) using Truvia. As stated, packaged Truvia already has more than just Stevia in it. I don't think Cargill or Coca Cola's interest is in anything but making $$ and this may be their answer to the questions arising about the safety of aspartame and sucralose. And anyone even remotely aware of health and weight issues knows about the high frutose corn syrup and obesity connection. Again, a big part of this is courtesy of Coca Cola (and Pepsi, too)! I noticed it isn't organic, but you can buy organic Stevia at Trader Joe's.
pattyrunton at 5:55PM on 01/04/09
As a diabetic I have looked very closely at all of these sweeteners. Sugar is pure poison; google "sugar is poison" for the facts. True, it's a natural poison like arsenic but you wouldn't eat that would you?
Splenda is deadly because it is real sugar cut with chlorine. Tastes great, kills slowly. Chlorine ultimately breaks down to salt and water however, in the process of breaking down (inside your body) chlorine creates dioxin. Dioxin is the single most carcinogenic substance known to science. Use Spenda.......develop cancer. Yes, this is also true if you are drinking, showering or swimming in chlorine. Only a triple reverse osmosis water filter will remove deadly chlorine and fluoride from your water supply; those sink and pitcher filters can only remove most of the "taste" or "smell" but not the actual substance. Read the labels carefully.
Aspartame was developed as a pesticide; it's a very dangerous neuro toxin. The FDA was actually in the process of suing Searle for attempting to foist this poison on the public; the damning Senate testimony given by the FDA's top doctor was devastating. But Searle was very clever and hired none other then Donald Rumsfeld to be CEO. Magically the FDA law suit melted away and the next thing you know, Equal is "approved" and inflicted upon the public as being "safe"........just like Splenda.
Now Stevia may be natural AND safe but like many others here, I have tried stevia and it simply tasted awful to me so I don't use it. I will try Truvia but I have no expectation it will be better unless the sugar alcohol mentioned above has made a great improvment.
What I find deeply ironic is the fact I simply use "the pink stuff", i.e. saccrine in the form of Sweet 'n' Low since it has never hurt anyone. What is ironic is that when they fed horrific amounts of it to mice some developed cancer so they had to use a warning label. When in fact no one was ever seriously harmed by simple saccrine, they were finally allowed to remove the warning label. My advice........if you don't care for stevia/truvia........stick with saccrine.......good luck to everyone
bluenote at 10:31AM on 01/13/09