Stevia page

[Browndog1986]

hey peeps bought a paleo dessert book

Paleo Dessserts | Cookbook

and a lot of the ingredients says to use "just like sugar table top natural chicory root sweetener" but its rather hard to find so i was thinking maybe to use "Stevia" I haven't herd of it before and read a quick post by Mark about it. So anyway i was in Tesco earlier and i see it in there but wasn't to sure due to the ingredients (Maltodextrin,Sweetener: Steviol Glycosides ,Natural Flavourings)

Canderel Green Stevia Sweetener 75G - Groceries - Tesco Groceries

here is a link to the Tesco site with the picture i really haven't got much of a clue about this only what i read from Mark

Any help would be great
Paul (UK)

[DinoHunter]

All the stevia ive seen in the shops has weird cr@p in it. Maltodextrin is a bulking agent & in the UK is usally made from wheat. Natural flavorings can mean a lot of things & not all of them good so unless they say "what" natural flavors id avoid
My Hubby uses stevia for his coffee, this is where I buy it from (he uses the nunaturals liquid, the list ingredients here so you can look for ones with stevia only if you want )NOW ORGANIC STEVIA EXTRACT 622 Servings 1oz Great Value items in Loving Sugar Free Xylitol Products store on eBay! They also carry Xylitol which might be worth looking into for you

[Pillow]

We grow fresh stevia in the herb garden. The leaves are super sweet and 100% natural. If you really need a sweetener I am sure you could press (think juicer) or boil the sugar out.

... Yah I know it sounds like work. But avoids the commercial processing. But the herb grows like crazy and gives you plenty of leafy output.

[DinoHunter]

Tried growing it here before, no luck, to cold, not enough sun...

[Pillow]

Well, I guess we'll just have to trade some Scotch for Stevia then!

[DinoHunter]

Keep yer stevia, you'll pry my scotch out of my dead cold hands
(actully if you can get your hands on it, Stags breath honey whisky liqueur is lush!)

[AuroraB]

You could use xylitol, cup for cup instead of sugar if you need it for volume in the recipe.

[Zena]

xylitol caused us the worse GI issues ever~ which was to bad cause we liked the taste.

[elfman5150]

Yea, xylitol has caused me problems in the past so I'd not recommend it. I do use liquid vanilla creme stevia, which I LOVE! Of course, I"m trying to cut out my sweet tooth altogether so I won't need any sweetners in the future.
Good luck to ya

[Sigi]

Browndog, don't expect stevia to give you the same taste results as sugar. Personally I hate the stuff - I think it has an awful after-taste - but that's a matter of opinion. I really like the taste of xylitol, it's very easy to use and I have no digestive problems with it, but some folks obviously do.