You must first login to obtain the discount code.

  Citrus Cooler:

1 whole lime cut into 6 pieces
6 mint leaves
8oz sparkling water
5 Drops of Lemon Liquid Stevia

Mix fruit and lime in glass until flavours
are mixed together. Add ice and
sparking water, serve and enjoy.

Vanilla Cocoa Shake:

1 cup rice milk
2 teaspoons un-roasted, un-sweetened cocoa
powder
6 ice cubes
7-9 drops SweetLeaf Vanilla Creme Liquid Stevia

Blend all ingredients together in a blender. Serve
immediately.

What you’ll need

• ½ cup refined oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup yogurt
• 1 large ripe banana (mashed)
• 4 1/2 tbsp of Naturally Sweet Stevia
• ½ tsp vanilla essence
• 1 ½ cup flour (maida)
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder

How to make

• Grease muffin moulds.
• Beat the oil and eggs in a mixing bowl, add yogurt, mashed banana, Stevia and vanilla essence.
• Sift flour, baking soda & baking powder, add to the liquid mixture and beat till the batter smoothens
• Pour into greased muffin mould and bake for 30 minute

Serves 12 muffins

Stevia is a natural sweetener made from the leaves of the Stevia plant. It comes in powder extracts, liquid form or Stevia leaves (fresh or dried).  Some countries have accepted it as a food additive or sugar substitute while others consider it as a dietary supplement.  It’s basically like sugar, adding sweet taste to food and drinks.  But that’s also where their similarity ends – its sweet flavour.

It has zero calories, zero carbohydrates and zero GI (glycemic index). So it’s effective for those with diabetes or hyperglycemia, though if you suffer from diabetes or hyperglycemia, as with adding anything new to your diet, it would be wise to consult your doctor first before you use Stevia. Unlike sugar, Stevia is natural, healthy and even offers some health benefits.  Just how great is Stevia for our health?  Well it’s:

• Anti-bacterial
• Anti-septic
• Anti-microbial
• Anti-oxidant
• Anti-glycemic
• Anti-hypertensive

It’s natural and promotes general health and wellbeing that’s why it’s becoming more popular as a sugar alternative.

Stevia in Cooking and Baking

You can use Stevia in cooking and baking just like sugar, with some caveats. In baking, you may need to use half Stevia, half sugar for some recipes. Since many forms of Stevia can be much sweeter than sugar, you often will need to use a lot less to pack the same sweetness punch. Most store-bought Stevia sweeteners will tell you what ratio to use. Dried Stevia leaves can be 10-15 times sweeter than sugar, so if you’re cooking with the dried leaves, you’ll want to start off with a small amount and flavor to taste.

• Enhances flavour. Stevia’s sweetness can bring out food’s flavors, like sugar does
• Non-fermentable, so not suitable for making fermented foods and drinks.
• Heat stable or heat resistant
• Water soluble, just like sugar
• Does not brown in baked goods like sugar does. If you want your baked good to brown, you’d want to use half Stevia and half sugar (or another sweetener, like honey or maple syrup).

Some people notice an “aftertaste” with Stevia. Mixing it with sugar or another sweetener, like honey or maple syrup, makes a big difference here.

Products that contain Stevia such as tea, tablets, toothpaste, mouthwash, food, beverages, etc. can help you improve your health and lifestyle.  What’s even better: Stevia has been developed by many companies using excipients that ensure that its taste is as close to cane sugar as possible so you will not miss your daily sweetness intake, but without the adverse affects of cane sugar.

Other useful information about Stevia

Stevia contains several all-natural nutrients, such as chromium, magnesium, manganese, potassium, selenium, zinc, Vitamin B3 and more.  It’s being used in drinks, teas, candies, ice cream and other consumer products by companies and countries around the world.  It shows no toxicity risk and poses no threat to one’s health and only has positive health claims. After more than 60 years usage in Japan, for example, no adverse reactions or findings have been recorded against Stevia.

Stevia provides us with a better alternative to processed sugar and artificial sweeteners. I guess that’s the best proof that Stevia is good for our health.

According to a report published by the International Diabetes Institute in Helsinki, Diabetes affects approximately 135 million people worldwide, with a forecast of over 300 millions by 2025 by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Approximately 3 million people die of diabetes each year, which can be thus considered an epidemic in some countries where it is increasingly the main cause of death.  Now it is also widely known that diabetes can affect male virility and even cause impotence.

The Institute has also pointed out how little medicine treatments have changed the current scenario since the first insulin injections back in 1921. They do stress, though, what a leading role a change of habits and lifestyle could help modify patients’ quality of life by taking physical exercise and eating a healthy diet.

Other properties

Having carried out myriads of tests it has been concluded that stevia has got anti-acid, antibacterial, anti-diabetic, cardiotonic, digestive, diuretic, sweetening, hypoglycaemic, hypo-tensing, metabolic enhancing  and vasodilating properties.

Beneficial effects in fat absorption and blood pressure have also been proven. Some tests have even gone on to prove its antibiotic qualities, particularly efficient against oral mucosa bacteria as well as against the fungi that cause Vaginitis and Candidiasis in women.

A Brief History of Stevia

Before we decide if Stevia extract is more advantageous than sugar or if sugar will always be better than a Stevia sweetener, let’s first understand its history and components to give us a clear picture of what it is and what it can do.

Stevia is a genus of 240 species of herbs and shrubs that grow abundantly from Central America to South America.  Stevia rebaudiana is a species known for its sweet leaves and used by Guarani Indians of Paraguay as a sweetener for hundreds of years.  The leaves are commonly used to enhance the taste of bitter beverages, medical potions, and food, but can also be eaten fresh to savour their natural sweetness.  The delicious, refreshing taste of this small green plant has been recorded since ancient times.

In the late 19^th century, Dr. Moises Santiago Bertoni first learned of this unique plant and soon published his botanical “discovery”, only to find out later that his “new discovery” had long been discovered and used, although not named and analysed in the way he did.  It was in 1931 when two French chemists isolated the compounds that give the leaf its sweet taste.  They found that the leaves taste 30 times sweeter than sugar and the compounds are 250-300 times sweeter than sucrose.  Though they didn’t know yet what these compounds or glycosides (particularly steviosides) would be used for, the answer would arrive decades later.  During the 1970s, the Japanese discovered the usefulness of stevioside and began cultivating Stevia.  The refined Stevia extract became an ideal replacement for sugar and the purified extracts became Stevia sweeteners.  The Japanese produced the first commercial Stevia sweetener and ever since its introduction, the Japanese have been using Stevia in various food and beverage products and for table use as well.  They use Stevia sweetener for ice cream, bread, lollies, pickles, seafood, vegetables, soft drinks, and other food products.  The Japanese have been the major consumers and users of Stevia for several decades and account for 40% of the market.  Today, the use of Stevia has spread across other parts of the world, including countries in the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America.

Stevia sweetener is perfect for both young and old

We’ve seen how Stevia has evolved into the sweetener that it is today.  With the aid of modern technology and more scientific research, we have also found numerous other health benefits.  Some of these are listed below:

*It contains zero calories; this non-caloric property makes it safe for people with diabetes and hypoglycaemia.

*It is non-toxic and rich in nutrients: calcium, phosphorous, sodium, magnesium, zinc, Vitamin A and C, and other 100+ phytonutrients.

*It reduces the craving for sweet, fatty foods or sugar so it’s very ideal for weight loss control and weight management.

*It has zero fat and zero carbohydrates, useful in fighting obesity.

*It is fluoride compatible and inhibits the development of plaque, so it helps prevent tooth decay and cavities.

*It does not increase blood sugar levels; instead, it stabilises the blood sugar levels in the body.

More information on Stevia extract

With Stevia’s growing popularity, many other concerns have been raised.  Perhaps, it’s because we only want the best, the safest, and the most beneficial.  And although it has existed and been in use since ancient times, it’s still somehow new to many of us today. 

We’ve already traced Stevia’s origins so we know how natural it is.  We’ve also seen its uses and health benefits.  Below we have described other facts that you may want to consider about Stevia:

*Where it is planted and grown

                - The land, location of the plantation, or region where it is cultivated affects the quality of Stevia leaves, thus the variations in the taste of Stevia sweeteners.

                - It is mainly produced in Paraguay, Brazil, Japan, and China, and is now being grown in countries across the Pacific Rim, Canada (Southern Ontario), Mexico, California, and the southern areas of England.

*What it cannot do

                - Unlike sugar, it does not caramelise, does not turn into a brown colour, and does not crystallise.

*Other factors affecting its flavour and aftertaste

                - Aside from where it is planted, the other environmental factors that influence the quality of its sweetness include irrigation methods, sunlight, farming practices, processing and extracting methods, and storage conditions.

With everything we’ve learned about Stevia, we could say that it has a bright future ahead, especially with our health-conscious generation.  With Stevia, you still get to enjoy the sweet taste of sugar without the guilt and negative effects of sugar and artificial sweeteners.

To know more about Stevia and the range of Naturally Sweet Stevia and SweetLeaf Stevia products we offer, please visit our site.

Carbohdrate-alternative sweeteners are all the rage nowadays with people becoming more health conscious. Carbohydrate-alternative sweeteners claim to be low in calories, yet still providing a sweet taste, therefore they are considered a popular choice for those who have a sweet tooth yet are calorie conscious.

A popular brand of sweeteners available in the market is Stevia,a natural sweetner. Two kinds of Stevia sweeteners are present for the consumers. A white coloured and a green coloured.  An extract taken from a Stevia Rebaudiana plant , Stevia is used in place of sugar. The raw extract contains very little carbohydrates; therefore negligible difference is noticed on our blood sugar level.

The green coloured Stevia sweetener is derived from plants. The extract from these plants happens to be much sweeter than sugar, yet without calories. Even though no scientific proof is available, it has been claimed by many that green Stevia can aid in overcoming a number of ailments Iike diabetes, heart conditions etc. Some people also attribute the loss of weight to green Stevia.

However benefits or not, the question remains, white or green Stevia: which one is more popular. Human psychology claims that the human mind is more attracted to colourful things. Therefore most developers make use of this fact and make their product available in bright vibrant colours. Artificial food colouring is used in almost all food items especially fruit juices to make them appear brighter and more scrumptious. . As a result the artificial colouring is now a billion dollar industry providing colours to almost every processed food, from juices to tinned fish.

The actual difference between green and white Stevia is that, green Stevia is made from whole Stevia leaf, whereas the white one is made after most of them leaf’s contents are removed leaving behind only the sweet containing mixture. The green Stevia is said to be more nutritious, with a stronger licorice flavour.

People usually consider white products to be processed and manufactured, hence without any natural ingredients. Same is with white Stevia, people link it with the other highly processed food items and so label it as unhealthy. The idea behind green Stevia is to associate it with the herbs it is derived from.

The products which bear the colour of the natural foods that they claim to be extracted from, are generally more popular with consumers. This is because they bring to the mind the natural food products and all the goodness that they proffer.

Using the same idea, the green Stevia has been developed, to give consumers the sense of knowing which organic material it is coming from.  However colour is not the only thing on which a sweetener should be chosen. Artificial sweeteners have recently come under serious criticism for being unhealthy. Many studies have shown them to display a certain toxicity which could be detrimental to human health. But the developers of Stevia use mostly natural herbs and ingredients while making the product deeming it much safer.

What is Xylitol?

Xylitol is a naturally occurring sweetener which is alcohol based, low in calories and is an effective agent in cavity prevention.  First isolated by Emil Fischer in 1891, it was not used commonly as a sweetener in food until the 1960’s even though it is similar in appearance to sugar, albeit with 46% fewer calories.  However, it has been more expensive to use than other sweeteners, contributing to the development of the artificial sweetener market, with which Xylitol cannot be associated. 

How Does Xylitol Prevent Cavities?

Xylitol is naturally produced in the body as well as through the mastication of fruits, vegetables and other food sources and is a natural inhibitor of bacteria development specific to dental caries, which are commonly known as cavities.  There are many factors involved in the inhibiting action of Xylitol, its similarity to sucrose in chemical construct arguably being most prevalent.  Since sucrose is the only sugar that certain micro organisms (S. mutans) can use to colonize on teeth, bacteria is attracted to and Xylitol and feeds upon it, but because Xylitol cannot be digested, the micro organisms are effectively starved.  This natural process staves off the formation of plaque, allowing teeth to remineralize over time.  
If Xylitol were recommended by dentists as a first choice sweetener of foods and drinks, lifelong colonization of unfriendly bacteria could be significantly reduced, and this would further inhibit the lifelong development of plaque, effectively prolonging the longevity of teeth.  The combinatorial benefits and effects that Xylitol provides should make it a first choice for dental patients who suffer from hard surface tooth decay. 

Is Xylitol Safe as a Primary Source for Food and Drink Sweetening?

Xylitol has not demonstrated toxicity in humans. During the course of one clinical study, participants consumed a diet consisting of a monthly average of 1.5 kg of Xylitol, with a maximum daily intake of 430 g with no measurable toxicity levels.  However, as with other sugar alcohols, Xylitol produces a laxative effect in some people due to incomplete breakdown of sugar alcohols during digestion.  It is worth noting that the digestive side effects were only experienced at the beginning of the study, and that the participants demonstrated adaptation within two weeks of study inception.

Is Xylitol Economically Feasible? 

Xylitol is much more costly than sugar because Xylitol must be processed from raw materials and there must be plenty of them in order to produce a reasonable supply.  But when factoring the savings in dental care over a lifetime, the overall cost may be closer for the two.  One must decide for oneself, but for me, the additional cost weighed against the benefits makes Xylitol my first choice over sugar.  I will simply use less of it.  After all, it seems better to have less of a sweet tooth, than less teeth.