Stevia:
Small, sweet and full of surprises
27-11-2019
Known for its intense natural sweetness and the fact that it doesn’t contain any kilojoules, stevia is a clever plant from Paraguay found in quite a few of your favourite drinks.
According to Bobbie Crothers, compliance and innovation manager at Coca‑Cola Australia, the technical team is constantly looking at ways to improve products in recipe and taste.
“People’s needs are changing and we love finding ways to meet those needs. That’s why we continue to create new products that meet evolving tastes and preferences, particularly as people increasingly look to balance their intake of sugar,” Bobbie said.
Once stevia leaves reach their peak sweetness, they are harvested and dried.
The finished ingredient is a sweetener that can be used in combination with other sweeteners like sugar to make great-tasting low or no kilojoule beverages, a win for health-conscious consumers trying to eat a balanced diet
Here’s a breakdown of what stevia is, where you can find it, and how it can help you maintain a healthy lifestyle.
- The stevia plant is in the Chrysanthemum family.
- There are hundreds of different species of stevia plant, but only one, called Stevia Rebaudiana, contains natural chemicals that make its leaves taste sweet.
- To create the sweetener, leaves of the stevia plant are refined until only the sweet-tasting molecular compounds remain.
- The sweetener is calorie-free, making it a great option for people looking to manage their weight.
- Stevia is found in some of your favorite drinks, including Vitamin Water Zero, Odwalla Strawberry Protein Monster, Honest Tea, Honest Fizz, Sprite Select, and Fanta Select.
- Stevia helps keep calorie counts down because it’s 200 times sweeter than sugar—that means a little goes a long way.
- You can cook and bake with stevia. Just be sure to consult a sugar-to-stevia conversion chart to make sure you’re using the right amount.
- Clinical studies are currently underway to determine if stevia might have health benefits for people with high blood pressure and diabetes.
- Stevia is available as a granular powder, a liquid extract, and even as small pellets that you can drop into your tea or coffee.
Improvements and reformulations take time, and the use of stevia in Coca‑Cola drinks continues to roll out. “As consumers’ tastes evolve so does our portfolio of products. That’s one of the most exciting parts of my job, to see these new products come to life,” Bobbie said.
Those new products, and reformulations of loved old ones, include the world-first 2018 launch of Coca‑Cola No Sugar and the 2019 reformulation of Fanta and Sprite.
“One thing is for certain, the innovations won’t end here, and we’ll never compromise on great taste,” said Bobbie.
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