Stevia Sweetener
Stevia is known by different names, including sweet leaf or sugar leaf, but the formal scientific name is Stevia rebaudiana. It’s an herbal plant that belongs to the Asteraceae family, which means it’s related to ragweed, chrysanthemums and marigolds. Stevia contains eight glycosides. These are the sweet components isolated and purified from the leaves of stevia. These glycosides include: stevioside, rebaudiosides A, C, D, E, and F, steviolbioside, dulcoside A. There are two compounds in stevia stevioside and rebaudioside A that are responsible for the sweetness that mimic the sweetness of sugar without any of its negative effects on your health.
You also have purified stevia extracts, you are consuming rebaudioside A in either a pure extract. The form in which stevia is primarily used as a sweetener in Japan is that of a white powdered extract. In this form it is approximately 200 to 450 times sweeter than sugar. Not all stevia extract powders are the same. The taste, sweetness and cost of the various white stevia powders will likely depend on their degree of refinement and the quality of the stevia plant used.
Stevia technical data: