So we're big Splenda consumers around here. You don't even want to know how much I consume in my coffee and oatmeal everyday. I would like to break away from the sweetners made in a lab for obvious reasons but I've yet to find a good substitute.
I know the one most recommended is Stevia. I tried Sweetleaf and found it to be extremely bitter. I'm at a loss at how people interpret bitter to be sweet. ( also caused alot of intestinal issues ) I've read some about it and some articles say that different brands of Stevia taste less bitter but not sure if I buy it. Also wtf was up with the intestinal thing? I read something about the alcohols used and maybe that was it but I didn't think Sweetleaf used any.
I know there's alot of health nuts around here, any recommendations?
I started using Stevia about 6 weeks ago after getting myself all paranoid about Aspertame and Splenda. I first tried some Stevia (in the green package in the health food section of Kroger if you have them where you are....) . It was pricey - 50 packets for like $7 or $10.
Then, my mom told me about some she found at Walmart. I subsequently found some right by the sugar aisle in Kroger - it's in a yellow and white package. I am too lazy to find the name but you can't miss it.
I think it comes 100 packs for about $5. I actually did a fair amount of research on this (about 1 or 2 hours).
There are all sorts of conspiracy theories running around. One says that they've known about this product (as you know taken from roots of plants, esp. in Brazil) since the 70s but the Aspertame lobbyists worked like hell to not get it accepted.
I also read that like 60% of Japanese use it as it is the most popular sweetner besides Sugar there (guess it's working 'cause they are totally slim...).
At any rate, I am pleased with it. My only worry is when I head back to Europe in a little while i won't be able to find it or it will be prohibitively expensive. OR, I will carry the stuff on board and they will think I've backed some Yeyo (remember Toni Montana, lol) in small Sweetner packs.
I say get it and try it out! Oh, also some say it's better hot than cold. I did find out when I made some iced tea using the sweetner while it was hot, it turned out a bit better than when I put the sweetner in after cooling the tea. Of course, if you stir hard, it should be no problem.
I've yet to bake with it.....
Lastly, you can find the droplets of it online and buy it in bulk, but I'm pretty happy with the Kroger version (yellow and white as described) so I have no need as of yet to do that...
Good luck!
Let us know what you use....would be curious to read about other options...