Forum

Stevia seems to be a big thing with more natural recipes now. It's a natural sweetener, made from the stevia plant. Sometimes it's a ground powder, sometimes it's a liquid. I don't have any experience with cooking with it. I prefer just using real sugar as a sweetener. I'm not concerned about calorie count, and that seems to be a draw with stevia - the fact that it has no calories.

My problem with stevia is this - it tastes like aspartame!!! Yuck!! My husband and I both agree that drinking a beverage containing stevia (for instance the soda brand Zevia) tastes just like you're drinking a diet soda. The aftertaste is exactly the same as say, diet Pepsi. WHY would it taste just like that? It is weird and concerns us.

Anyone else notice this too? Does stevia always taste like that? Can you taste that weird aftertaste if you use stevia in baked goods, for example? Or is it just in drinks that you can notice the taste?

How safe is stevia? Are there many studies done? I know the argument that it's entirely organic and natural...it's a plant after all. But so is belladonna for instance...and that's poisonous. Just wondering.