NS Stevia Powder

I apologize for the length of this review but I have tried to use headings to allow you to quickly find the information that is most useful to you: SHIPPING AND PACKAGING: My order of NatriSweet 100% Pure Stevia Powder 4 oz (113g) arrived one day ahead of schedule to my surprise. Product arrived in a standard, bubble-wrap style shipping pouch and was further covered in a recycled plastic seal to prevent dust or other contaminants from coming into contact with the product. All prudent measures in my view. PRODUCT OVERVIEW: NatriSweet 100% Pure Stevia Powder 4 oz (113g) is just as advertised, a 4oz sealed and resealable plastic pouch containing finely powdered stevia extract. My first impression was that this was a smaller quantity than expected (although it is clearly marked) and I thought it might be intended as a sample size or introductory size but I could not be more wrong—this stuff is POWERFUL. If you are not careful about how much you use, this product may be TOO POWERFUL and may be described as bitter or having a chemical flavor. NatriSweet 100% Pure Stevia Powder is not only pure stevia but a concentrated form that consists of 90% Steviosides which are the source of stevia’s sweetness. The product description states that 90% is the perfect amount to maximize sweetness without risking bitterness in the flavor. I dipped a finger in the powder and put the finger directly in my mouth—BIG MISTAKE! It wasn’t just sweet; it was too sweet and overwhelmed the sweetness receptors of my taste buds causing me to focus instead on the other flavor characteristics of stevia which are similar to licorice. After the initial reaction subsided, the intense sweetness took over and remained until I rinsed it away. I knew that stevia could be intense from previous experience but this stuff takes it to a whole new level. If you are looking to find a healthy sugar substitute or sweetener, this may be the product for you. I have Type 2 diabetes so I must limit my sugar and carbohydrate intake in order to maintain a healthy blood glucose level. Stevia is non-caloric because, like most artificial sweeteners, the human body does not metabolize the stevia compounds used in this product. Furthermore, stevia is known to improve insulin effectiveness leading to healthier blood glucose levels. Whether you are looking for healthy alternative to sweeten your morning coffee or afternoon iced tea or you need a 100% natural, organic sweetener for cooking, I recommend NatriSweet 100% Pure Stevia Powder on the condition that you use it carefully and do not exceed the amounts specified on the product label. For my purposes, I rarely use even the recommended amounts and still find it to be abundantly sweet. Stevia is not right for everyone nor is it the best sweetener for every purpose but it is an effective and 100% natural sugar replacement that is healthier than most alternatives. PROS: 1 - NatriSweet 100% Pure Stevia Powder is intensely concentrated! While a double-edged sword, the concentration of this product means that you need use only a very small amount to sweeten foods and beverages but using too much can be problematic. The product label provides a conversion chart but I recommend starting with less and adding more as needed. 2 – 100% Natural product! NatriSweet 100% Pure Stevia Powder has only one ingredient: stevia. It is a natural, organic, Vegan, Non-GMO, Chemical Free, Sugar Free, and Gluten Free sugar substitute consisting of pure stevia powder that is more healthy than artificial sweeteners and has even been shown to be beneficial to those with Type 2 Diabetes. 3 – Great Price! Due to the extreme sweetness of stevia and the highly concentrated nature of this product, you will only need to use a TINY AMOUNT at a time. This means that a single order may last weeks if not months depending on you need for sweeteners. CONS: 1 – Risk of bitterness. The high concentration of this product increases the risk for people to experience bitterness. To clear, the sweetness of stevia tends to occur to our taste buds more slowly than the faint licorice aftertaste that can be present for some individuals when it is used in higher concentrations. This is the reason that I had such a strong reaction to my first taste of the product—it was the equivalent of taking half a cup of sugar all at once. While this is a certainty for people that use the product incorrectly, the risk of bitterness is inherent to nearly all stevia products when then are used incorrectly. 2 – Stevia is not sugar. Because stevia is different than sugar, it takes time for people to adjust to this fact and use stevia correctly in the preparation of foods and beverages. If you have not used stevia in the past, you will need to learn how to use it in your food and beverage preparations. This is less a CON than it is a caution and it is not unique to this or any stevia product. A WORD ABOUT BITTERNESS AND STEVIA I saw a number of reviewers that have commented about this product being bitter or having a chemical flavor. I encourage you to disregard those comments as these individuals have obviously not used stevia before or did not follow label for a proper conversion table. To be clear, you almost certainly WILL experience a bitter flavor that is similar to licorice if you use high concentrations of this product but that is the case with nearly EVERY stevia product. That is like complaining of the peppery burning sensation on your tongue when you drink a bottle of hot sauce. Everyone experiences flavor differently so I encourage you to begin with a very small amount (less than you think you will be able to perceive) and then increase as needed. Some people do not experience the aftertaste of stevia even at higher concentrations but most people experience the extreme sweetness of stevia. Stevia’s sweetness is often slow to be perceived. This means that you may have food or beverages in your mouth for a moment before the sweetness is apparent but the aftertaste might present itself immediately. I recommend that you experiment before you use stevia in food and beverages to find the amount that is effective for you. I hope that you find this information to be useful.

Natrisweet 100% Pure Stevia Powder Rating: 5/5 (excellent) Skip to the bottom for my recipe for Liquid Stevia Extract, otherwise stick around for some brief soapboxing on ingredients and strength. Still here ? Good. Ah, the "diabetic friendly" sugar substitute follies. So rife with misinformation, corporate gre3d, and flat out corrupti0n. For the sake of brevity, i'll limit this to just the 2 main types of powdered stevia. The first is bad, the second is good. First (bad), and by far the most common, are versions that use Dextrose and/or Maltodextrine as extenders and bulking agents .. this includes brands like Equal, Splenda, Sucralose, and Compliments Stevia Powder. The most common strengths hover in the vicinity of 8:1 by weight (meaning 8 grams sugar substitutes as 1 gram sucralose), and if they say "substitutes like sugar" they're formulated to be 1:1 by volume (i.e., 1 tsp sugar = 1 tsp sucralose). Second (good) are versions that are 100% PURE STEVIA. For non-diabetics, the chief difference is in taste and strength, but for people with diabetes (type 1 or 2) I highly recommend avoiding the former. Yes, stevia has a slighlty bitter after taste, but unlike dextrose and maltodextrine it does NOT raise blood glucose. Anyway, Natrisweet, because its not bulked up with dextrose and dextrines, is STRONGER ... 32:1 (32x stronger than sugar) by both weight and volume. That's 32÷8 = 4x stronger than Compliment Stevia Powder by weight, and it's 32x less bulky. Let's back up to the bad stuff for a moment, because understanding this is an important public service for my fellow diabetics. Feel free to google this yourself via reputable sites - you dont need to take my word on it. DEXTROSE and MALTODEXTRINE are both sweeteners derived from GMO Corn. Welcome to the corrupt big food industry (monsanto/corn being the biggest), whose only loyalty is to $$$$. Newsflash: NEITHER sweetener is a zero calorie sweetener, and BOTH raise blood sugar faster than surcrose. Yes, read that again. Heck, dextrose is used in emergency rooms to treat hypoglycemia. So why are both everywhere in supposedly diabetic friendly zero calorie sweeteners ? Take your pick: corporate gre3d, corrup1 manipulation of FDA labeling laws, lobbying agencies, et al. They use every trick in the book to get their product into everything - like pairing conveniently minute portion sizes with the use of rounding to the nearest integer in order to earn a wholly mis1eading "zero calories", even though if you scale it back up to practical usage levels it becomes scandalous1y NONZERO. Oh, it gets worse. Take "sugar alcohol" - some forms of sugar are allowed to be listed as "sugar alcohol", just so they can be listed as a separate line item from sugar, which in turn enables them to conveniently evade the designation as an "added sugar", even though it is indeed a FORM OF SUGAR and in many cases raises blood glucose. You cant make this stuff up. The bottom line is this: If you're diabetic, do your reading, and always read the ingredients list on EVERYTHING. For sweeteners, if you see either dextrose or maltodexteine, or anything else conveniently listed as (for example) "sugar alcohol", AVOID IT. Stick with high quality PURE stevia, and brands of it that are reasonably priced ... like this one. All that being said, I do have 2 caveats about pure stevia to be aware of, regardless of brand - they are not complaints but rather characteristics of this sweetener. First is that it's not recommended for baking use, because it tends to denature under prolonged high heat, and it can throw off recipes that require both the bulk and browning of actual sugar. Second, pure powder is highly concentrated, and tends to be 'poofy' like corn starch, so I find it much easier and less messy to measure and work with in liquid form, which is why i included a recipe for liquid drops. -------- Strong & Easy Liquid Stevia Drops, 60 proof (usage: 3-4 drops per cup of coffee) IMPROVED VERSION Comment: I developed this by direct trial and error. My initial water based version developed a flor after 2 weeks, so I've since switched to lightly diluted white rum, which is shelf stable and dissolves the stevia a bit faster. INGREDIENTS (yeilds approx 1.5 fl oz) 2 tbsp White Rum 2 tbsp Natrisweet 100% Pure Stevia Powder 1-2 tsp Water Directions: 1) In a standard 3 fl oz clean empty spice bottle, use a small funnel to combine all 3 ingredients. Close snugly. 2) Shake vigorously for 60 sec. Some cloudiness will persist, initially. Let stand for 3 mins. Repeat the shake & stand a 2nd time, after which it should be crystal clear. 3) Transfer the extract to a standard brown glass 2 fl oz eye dropper bottle, and store in a cool dark place. 4) NOTE: A milky hazy will slowly begin to appear after a few weeks. This is NOT a flor, it is the stevia recrystalizing ... easily fixed. Simply fill a small mug with HOT water, loosen the lid of the extract bottle, and let it sit in the hot water for 5-10 mins, and it will re-clarify. Good as new. :-) UPDATE (Oct 2022) Water based version replaced by rum based version. UPDATE (May 2023) Re-clarification tip added.

I absolutely love this stevia! I make a lot of sweet tea, and was using a lot of the stevia that you are supposed to use in the same proportions as sugar. Unfortunately, with being on keto, all the dextrose and fillers that go in that is terrible. So, I did some research and found this. I was using about 1 3/4 cups of the old stevia in a gallon of sweet tea, and with this product, I only use 1 teaspoon. That's right, not a tablespoon, but 1 TEASPOON replaces almost 2 cups of sugar! At this rate, this one small bag will last a long time. The first time I used it, I followed the conversion chart on the back of the bag, but I found it to be bitter tasting, meaning I'd used too much, so the next time, I used half that amount, and it was perfect. My husband, who HATES artificial sweeteners even really likes this. There's no aftertaste, and no bitterness, as long as you find the right amount to use. The only downside is, because you only need a tiny amount, it would be really easy to use too much.

I have tried and used stevia blends like truvia. I have not tried the true refined stevia that is 90% steviocides before this order. Truvia and similar products are sweet but doc not taste like stevia. The white powder in this bag tastes exactly like the stevia rebaudiana that I have grown in the garden. This product tastes just like the stevia plant does. It does not taste like sugar and is not expected to. Nothing but sugar tastes like sugar. Honey tastes like honey, molasses tastes like molasses, aspertame tastes like aspertame, and stevia tastes like stevia. If you want the taste of sugar buy sugar instead of any other option. All of these sweeten but each type of sweetener has its own unique taste. If you are familiar with and like the taste of the actual stevia rebaudiana plant this is a good product. If you have only tried the cut down stevia blends this will taste completely different. If you do not like the taste of stevia this is not for you. I have yet to learn precisely how much of this is needed for sweetening. I tasted the white powder by itself then I used it in a drink. I only gave 4 stars because I am not convinced it is truly 300 times sweeter than sugar as steviocide is supposed to be. The product is a good product that I will most likely buy again when I run out. For those who want the blended product you could buy a bag or erythitol and mix in some stevia to taste. Put together in a blender you could finally have the perfect blend of powdered sweetener that fits your tastes. The blender will powder the erythitol while mixing the ingredients.

Very happy with this stevia product! I never realized the other stevia items I had purchased in the past had so much filler in them to make it match sugar cup for cup. I thought, they use were great, no calculating. But I didn't realize it was giving me a lot of stuff I didn't want to be eating. I thought I was eating stevia, because that was what it was called! I didn't know you had to look for 100%. You have to use so little of this product that this little bag will last me forever. For a cup of tea you have to use 1/32 of a teaspoon. I don't have that measure so I either use a 1/8 tsp & only use 1/4 of it or when my sister makes tea for me, she just does a pinch with her fingers & it's perfect. If you use too much it is bitter. I highly recommend this 100% stevia. I will never go back to the ones with fillers! Update:. I was drinking more tea therefore more stevia. I was running to the bathroom constantly. I looked stevia up more & discovered it was a diuretic. I was trying to avoid diuretic effect of coffee. I've switched to monk fruit drop instead.

Avoid if you don't want fillers and an odd taste. Finding pure unadulterated Stevia is almost an impossible task. Little if any external quality controls and the ease in which a little filler increases their profit margins. So as a consumer we are left with our reviews which vary based on subjective experience. I would avoiding this product. I hesitate to recommend alternatives, but CCnature is superior. But, unless we have independent testing (that will not happen)who knows what is in this stuff. Don't let your sweet tooth trump your judgement. Easier said than done.

Natrisweet is Literally very sweet pure stevia at its best. Great tasting alternative to sugar but it has bit aftertaste if you put a little too much, I'm frankly saying this. A little goes a very long way not to mention how healthier it is than those artificial sweeteners. The packaging is very convenient and a great value for the price. I mixed it in all of my food and drinks that needs to be sweetened. My family uses this too.

WOW!!! That is what I said when I received an email the day after I ordered this product. It was not a "form" email...but a hand typed email to ME thanking me for buying their product. They also invited me to reply to the email with any queastions or concerns that I had....so I did. I have never tried the PURE Stevia extract...and from some of the reviews I was actually a little concerned about this "bitter after taste" that I had read about. I received yet another email with complete directions on how to use it....how much to use, etc. WOW again! The bitter aftertaste is from using too much. They even suggested that I mix some other type of HEALTHY sugar in with it for a few days and wean off of that sugar until I was used to the switch. I had been using the fluffy Stevia bought in those "super" stores for over a year. When I received the product I was shocked at how small the bag actually was. I thought this won't last long at all. I made my first cup of coffee with just the stevia extract...no additional sugar. With their advice on how much to use....which is an amazingly tiny amount...NO bitter aftertaste and this bag should last me at least two years!! This company rocks in customer service and so does their product. I WILL be purchasing again although it may be 2 years before I need anymore :)