Just in case any of you have seen the recent TV adverts for this new stevia sweetener – Truvia – I thought I would tell you it is not pure stevia and contains corn. Look:
Erythritol is a sugar alcohol used in Truvia® Calorie-Free Sweetener to provide bulk. Bulking agents are additives that increase the bulk of, contribute to the texture, and provide no calories to a food or a beverage. Erythritol has been part of the human diet for thousands of years as it is present in fruits such as pears, melons and grapes, as well as mushrooms and fermentation-derived foods such as wine, soy sauce and cheese. The erythritol in Truvia® Calorie-Free Sweetener is fermented from dextrose, a sugar made from corn.
Use birch-derived xylitol instead like this one – which doesn’t feed candida either.
Has anyone found a pure stevia powder or liquid by the way?
So weird, just yesterday I looked at some sweeteners (in the absense of xylitol!) and saw erythritol on more than one sweetener (generally the ones that have been made to resemble sugar and use as an equal-ratio replacer) and I thought to myself “well, I have no idea, but I BET it’s corn derived!” – glad I made that cautious assumption!
I bought an organic pure stevia powder yesterday, the make ‘Guayapi’ over here in France…if that helps! It’s awful in infusions! But I used to have my own stevia plant in a pot outside – and I used to occasionally lop off a branch, dry it out and crumble the leaves…I find that the less you powder it, the less bitter it is. I don’t know why!? I don’t know how they grind it commercially but perhaps they use metal as opposed to stone or other method (can apparently affect flavours and properties when it comes to plants, herbs, nuts…?) I just crumbled by hand or in pestle and mortar. Much nicer! Wish I hadn’t killed it over last winter, whoops! Must get another this spring…
Oh, good idea, Becky, thank you! Will look that one up. I think there is a liquid one somewhere, sure I’ve seen one..
Folks, just because something is remotely derived from maize doesn’t mean it contains gluten. In making erythritol you start with maize starch (no proteins, no gluten), convert it to dextrose (a sugar, still no gluten) then ferment that to erythritol (a polyol, still no gluten). There is no gluten in Truvia.
Hi John,
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment. You will note on this site that we are dealing with true gluten sensitivity rather than the standard coeliac recommendations. We believe all grains contain glutens and other fractions that can cause grain sensitive people to react. We don’t believe it is just about proteins and we don’t believe that gliadin is the be-all-and-end-all of gluten sensitivity by a long chalk. Most of us will react to something like this, enzymes, probiotics etc etc that are fermented using corn dextrose, hence the warning for my grain sensitive readers to steer clear of it in case. .