Portal:Food/Selected ingredient/8
Stevia (/ˈstiːviə, ˈstɛviə/) is a sweet sugar substitute extracted from the leaves of the plant species Stevia rebaudiana native to Paraguay and Brazil.
The active compounds are steviol glycosides (mainly stevioside and rebaudioside), which have about 50 to 300 times the sweetness of sugar, are heat-stable, pH-stable, and not fermentable. The human body does not metabolize the glycosides in stevia, so it contains zero calories as a non-nutritive sweetener. Its taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, and at high concentrations some of its extracts may have an aftertaste described as licorice-like or bitter. Stevia is used in sugar- and calorie-reduced food and beverage products as an alternative for variants with sugar. (Full article...)