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Truvia, a New Natural Sweetener

Posted by Kerry Saretsky, December 30, 2008 at 10:00 AM

"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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Tags: sugar substitutes, sweeteners, Truvia