What’s the ingredient’s source, its extraction process, its sweetness relative to sugar, and its approved applications in foods?
Reb A is derived from Stevia leaf, (Plant: Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni) Family: Compositae (Asteracease).
Reb A is one of ten steviol glycosides which are extracted from dry leaves by steeping in warm water and then purified by crystallization to get > 97% pure Reb A product.
Sweetness: 200-400 times sweeter than sugar.
Stevia is approved as a sweetener for all major food and beverage categories, which includes table top sweetener - for tea, coffee, etc.,Beverages: carbonated soft drinks, still beverages, powdered soft drinks, Dairy: ice creams, yogurts, sherbets, baked goods: cakes, biscuits, cereals, bars, jams, sauces, pickles, puddings, desserts, chewing gum, confections, seafood, vegetables, weight management and diabetic diets.
Stevia-based sweeteners have been evolving - and improving - over the years. What were earlier generation’s drawbacks and why is today’s stevia better?
Reb A was not previously approved for use due to two factors historically associated with conventional stevia extract.
First there was an issue with the taste profile of stevia - the crude extract that was used contains a mixture of approximately 10 different glycosides not all of which taste good.
Second because the extract contains a mixture of different molecules, it was impossible to give a clear specification of the product. The ratio of molecules in the extract would vary substantially, depending on the climate and weather conditions where the stevia was grown. This variation caused difficulties for food and beverage manufacturers, and importantly, made it difficult to conduct clinical trials to assess the product safety.
By improving the extraction and purification process, today stevia sweetener can be made more consistently, which helps in making better tasting food and beverage products.
Sugar has a very distinct sweetness profile, with a unique peak, tail and top notes. What is stevia’s sweetness profile and how does it compare to sugar’s, particularly in beverages?
The sweetness profile of Reb A, which has slightly delayed onset of sweetness like many other high intensity sweetener. It also shows sweetness lingering at high concentration, thus the tail is more extended than sugar, but much shorter than sucralose, as an example.
