I got a sample of Truvia brand Stevia in the newspaper the other day. It may be my imagination, but I put some in water, and did think I detected a slight licorice aftertaste.

From the New York Times:

"For the last decade the big three — pink packets of saccharin, aspartame in blue and sucralose in yellow — have fought to a kind of stalemate. But now a new player, dressed in green, hopes to shift the balance of power, opening up the $1.2-billion-a-year world of fake sugar to all kinds of changes.

The Food and Drug Administration agreed in December that rebaudioside A, an extract from the leaves of the stevia plant, is safe to add to food and drinks.

The stakes are high. Despite nagging health concerns and flavors that are about as much like sugar as margarine is like butter, almost half of all American households use some kind of no-calorie sweetener, according to 2007 figures compiled by Packaged Facts, a market research firm. Although finding a no-calorie sweetener that tastes exactly like sugar remains the holy grail, the street fight is getting people loyal to the distinct flavors of one fake sugar to jump to another.

The stevia products that are coming on the market now are not without problems. They cost five times as much as Sweet’N Low, the oldest and least expensive of tabletop brands. And unless the new sweetener is extracted from the right part of the leaf, processed correctly and mixed with bulking agents that soften its flavor, stevia can have a lingering taste of licorice or menthol.

But stevia has one distinct advantage over all the rest. Because it comes from a plant, marketers can call it a natural sweetener. And that allows companies that have invested millions in new stevia products to tap into two powerful markets at once: natural ingredients and low-calorie products.

More at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04...fPA&pagewanted=print

From the Center for Science in the Public Interest:

"Statement of CSPI Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson

Shame on the Food and Drug Administration for its midnight decision to accept industry's contention that rebaudioside A, a sweetener extracted from the herb Stevia, is "generally recognized as safe," or GRAS. That "general recognition" of safety certainly doesn't extend to the UCLA scientists who concluded that rebaudioside A is inadequately tested in terms of cancer and caused mutations in some laboratory tests. It is far too soon to allow this substance in the diet sodas and juice drinks consumed by millions of people. It looks like this is President Bush's parting gift to the soda industry."

http://www.cspinet.org/stevia/

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In fact, I bought as much organic as I could find today at the grocery store and my bill was actually less than normal!

I've noticed that too, but I suspect that (at least at my house) it is because many of the things I'd buy that are more expensive are the processed things that would never be organic to begin with. We're trying to go organic as much as possible, too.

I am trying very hard to avoid all things chemical. I've been buying more organic, not everything, but most products. In fact, I bought as much organic as I could find today at the grocery store and my bill was actually less than normal! Even though Truvia is "natural", it is still going through a process and who knows what changes happen when it is altered in any way. If I use sugar, it is going to be real sugar, nothing chemically processed. Losing my Coke Zero habit is hard, I love it, but it is loaded with stuff my body does not need. If I do want a soda, I will have a regular coke-and I won't drink much because of the calories.

Jill