Stevia is a sweetener that is made from a plant leaf. I just tried a form of it called SweetLeaf Stevia Plus in my oatmeal. It wasn’t exactly sugar-like in sweetness, I thought it had a mild bitterness. It certainly did improve the oatmeal from boring yuck with nothing in it to edible.
The packaging says stevia contains no calaries very few carbs (zero net per package) zero glycemic index and zero chemicals. Although I haven’t done much internet poking around on it, I’m hoping that using it will help me cut down on my sugar intake. I’m currently trying to be a health freak.
Seriously, years ago when I did “training” for sensory testing, I couldn’t tell which little cup held the bitter solution and which held the water - they both tasted the same to me. Found out later that about 10% of the population can’t taste bitter.
Coffee just tastes burnt to me. Beer (unless it’s a dark beer) just tastes like “fuzzy” water. I can eat really dark chocolate with no problems.
I just had another go with the stevia. This time I made a peach shake with milk, ice, peaches and stevia. It was really goooood! I didn’t really notice an aftertaste, the peaches probably helped out.
I bought a “sweet leaf plant” from a commercial greenhouse this past spring. It arrived dead. But the brown, shriveled leaves were, in fact, quite sweet.
