Well, you may or may not have read this thread originally when I posted it. And you may or may not have seen the Splenda Experiment thread I started more recently.
Both stevia (a natural sweetener from the stevia plant's leaves) and Splenda (and artificial sweetener, technically, made by removing something from sugar and adding a chlorine molecule) have both been a BIG disappointment to me.
If you read the first post in this thread you will see that I was not happy with stevia b/c it didn't sweeten for me. I took the liquid stuff back and got my $14 back.
Fast forward to a day or two ago, when I am shopping at Trader Joe's..... I always look at their "New Items" end shelf to see what goodies I can find that fit in with this WOL.
Well, they had powdered stevia for only $5.99 in a LARGE container. It's called "Sweet 'n Natural Super Stevia Extract" made by Superior Source. Comes in a 9.73 oz plastic jar. Ingredients are: Lactose, Pure stevia leaf extract (stevia rebaudiana) (90% steviosides). Total carbs less than 1 gram per 1/3 level teaspoon.
Okay, it looks like corn starch. I looked at it and I thought to myself, "Self," I says, "Should we try this stuff in the powder form, give it another try--you know how the only thing y ou really miss is sweet tea?". So, I bought it, even though I was concerned about the lactose (?) in it. I guess that's the corn starchy stuff, eh?
So, I've tried it in several teas now, and it works GREAT! I have used half a level teaspoon in a large mug and no funky after taste this time, and it actually does sweeten! It's not a bad thing this time!
The best part, though, is that I have had ZERO, NONE, NADDA, ZILCH side effects from using it. No bloating, no gas, none of the nasty symptoms I got with 'Sploda, er uh, Splenda.
I just wanted to update you all. I will be watching how its use affects me over the next week, but so far, so good. I will try it in other things besides tea to see how it works. Will be nice to see if I can use it in my hot bacon dressing, which I am still experimenting with so it's not so vinegar-y.
So, if you tried the stevia drops like I did and didn't like them and got nothing out of them, maybe this brand and this type of stevia will work for you as it seems to be working for me!