SWEETENERS
STEVIA
For hundreds of years, people in Paraguay and Brazil have used a sweet
leaf to sweeten bitter herbal teas including mate. For nearly 20
years, Japanese consumers by the millions have used extracts of the
same plant as a safe, natural, non-caloric sweetener. The plant is
stevia, formally known as Stevia rebaudiana, and today it is under
wholesale attack by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Stevia is a fairly unassuming perennial shrub of the aster family
(Asteraceae), native to the northern regions of South America. It has
now been grown commercially in…
