/stevia/sweeteners

[Guest guest]

@@@@@ :

> Which safe, natural sugar substitute sweetener (for diabetics) is

the least expensive, and where would you recommend to purchase it?

>

> Also, since Stevia is rather expensive at the local health food

store and elsewhere, how might I go about purchasing seeds/starter

plants, and growing and using it for a sweetener my own Stevia plant

leaves, in my ville, FL backyard?

@@@@@@@@@

Hi ,

If it helps, I think you're asking the wrong question! Why even use

any sweeteners at all? Why not generate a new set of expectations

from within? I'm pasting something below I wrote for the Kefir list

just yesterday on this topic in response to posts about stevia, to

give you a better sense of where I'm coming from.

BTW, I believe the non-extract green powdered stevia is pretty

inexpensive. I've seen it around in shops at very low prices. You

might try an internet search for a bulk herb company or the like.

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

------------------------------------

Seems pretty common and uncontroversial in the US. Some people grow

their own plants and use the whole leaves, but people generally buy

either the powdered green stuff, which has the distinctive stevia

flavor, or an extract in a white powder or liquid form. The green

powder is very cheap I believe. I've tried the green powder and the

white extract powder for fun and curiosity, but I don't generally use

any " sweeteners " in my food because I like food the way it tastes

already. I've used stevia a few times to " rescue " the occasional

crazy kitchen experiments that went too far down the path of

inedibility, but my current small supply will probably sit there for

many years virtually undepleted. I think we had a thread about this

on Native-Nutrition last year sometime where we talked about " the

cultural bias of white cane sugar as the gold standard " , so I don't

want to go all into the philosophical aspects of sweeteners, but

suffice to say that stevia (leaves or green powder) is a natural food

substance that has its own flavor like anything else and should be

judiciously rotated with the hundreds of other flavor options

presented by foods, including others that give varying kinds of

sweetness, like cinnamon, fruits (wild or old breeds only please),

sea greens, nuts (in my experience especially almonds and coconut),

etc. This is in contrast to conceptualizing two categories, " food "

and " sweeteners " , with the implications that food needs to be sweet

or there is something inadequate about the flavors already present in

the food. Whether its source is natural, like stevia or cane, or

synthetic, like the all the craziness out there with funny names, the

idea of adding an unnaturally processed substance like stevia extract

or refined cane sugar to food on a daily basis seems antagonistic to

a sustainable healthy lifestyle. That is simply fighting a battle

against nature (the evolutionary fundamentals of your body and the

foods of the planet) that can't be won. Stevia is one of thousands

of herbs known to humans, and like any other concentrated plant food

it may have a pharmacological effect on the human body that can be

either good or bad depending on specific conditions and use. I would

treat it with respect and gratitude for its distinctive properties

just as one would with any other herb, with the vague guidance of

historical traditions and whatever tiny amount of scientific

knowledge that might have bearing. A precedent of minor usage for a

herb is not a green light for unrestricted applications in novel

forms. This is a general attitude towards the special category of

foods we might call " herbs " that are used in small quantities as a

medicinal or epicurean adjunct to the foods that provide essential

sustenance. I have no personal suspicion that the particular case of

stevia is unsafe, but I would argue that its usage should be

determined by these overarching considerations that are integrated

with a sensible and balanced food lifestyle. On a practial note

regarding stevia, people have reported that the powerful flavor of

whole stevia (leaves or green powder) can be disastrously

incompatible with some foods while having a sublime affinity with

others--as should be the case--with a general trend towards enhancing

foods with a bitter component themselves.

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

------------------------------