• Stevia, a plant whose leaves have an intensely sweet taste, has been used as tea but also to sweeten drinks since the 16th century.
Stevia, or by the full name Stevia rebaudiana, is native to Paraguay and Brazil, and is now also cultivated in Japan and China. The stevia plant is cultivated for its sweet leaves and is used as a calorie-free alternative to conventional sugar. The chemical compounds present in stevia rebaudiana leaves, the most important of which are stevioside and rebaudioside A, are even 250-300 times sweeter than sugar.
Stevia is among the natural sweeteners that are believed to bring benefits important for health. Although in 1987, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the marketing of stevia as a food additive, the sweet plant regained its status as a safe ingredient for human consumption in 1995. Since then, thanks to studies, stevia has increased by 58% in popularity, becoming the favorite of many as an alternative to sugar.
Used for centuries for medicinal purposes, the stevia plant is more than a natural sweetener. Studies show that using stevioside, the sweet compound in stevia, as a dietary supplement can lower blood pressure. At the same time, the use of stevia in the diet of patients with diabetes has had spectacular results. The researchers showed that stevia reduced both insulin and blood glucose levels after a meal.
Substitute for regular sugar
The usual commercial form of stevia sweeteners is liquid or powder. Be careful though! Not all products on the market marketed as stevia sweetener are natural. To benefit from the advantages of replacing sugar with stevia, we must ensure that the purchased product has not been processed with chemicals harmful to the body. Ideally, the sweetener should be obtained only by grinding stevia leaves. Unfortunately, it is not always found in this form, so we have to make sure, by reading the ingredients mentioned on the package, that the method of producing stevia extract does not alter its beneficial properties.
Stevia sweeteners can be used by food and beverage manufacturers as an ingredient in: diet or low-sugar juices, flavored waters, syrups, preserved fruit, various spice mixes, dairy products (such as ice cream, flavored milk and yogurt) and other food products (such as pastries, cereals, chocolate and other sweets).
Because they are stable at high temperatures, stevia sweeteners can be successfully used in bakery products. However, a recipe that uses stevia sweeteners instead of sugar can be slightly different, because in addition to the sweet taste, sugar has other attributes that directly influence the volume and texture of the products.
Article written by Gabriela Dan, Editor of Arta Albă
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