I am not a drinker of black coffee, nor am I generally a fan of "artificial" sweeteners. Sugar, as far as I am concerned, is an essential nutrient.I have made, however, some attempts at baking with stevia, which failed horribly. This wasn't a big surprise, since sugar not only sweetens but also contributes significantly to the texture of baked goods. So I was wary...
For whatever reason, though, I finally got around to trying tea and coffee sweetened with stevia extract, and I liked it enough to blog about, apparently.
It's sweet! Not exactly like sugar - there's maybe a sensation that the coffee is still more bitter, while also being sweet, if that makes any sense - but very, very drinkable in any case. Certainly no weird aftertaste or anything.
So, I'm a convert, at least in terms of beverages. I'm also working on an exciting theory: the texture of ice cream probably requires sugar, but what about frozen yogurt? Plain yogurt is thick and creamy without sugar, so could a stevia-sweetened frozen yogurt work well? I'll be trying this as soon as I can dig up my ice cream freezer, and will post an update about the results.
In the meantime, you can learn a lot about stevia at stevia.com. There's even a method in the FAQ for making your own extract, which I certainly intend to try out.
creative commons image by flickr user onezzzart
i like to do a 1:2 ratio for stevia (i use the truvia brand) in my coffee. i don't really like the flavor of it that much but i find that a 1:2 ratio works.
ReplyDeleteis it odd that for artificial sweetener i am still loyal to sweet n low?
I've never tasted sweet n low, I guess maybe it's fine but there was just so much health controversy I probably wouldn't be able to do it...
ReplyDeletedo you mean you use a 1:2 ratio of stevia to sugar? that could be good.