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[Jari]

Hi ladies,

Yesterday I bought Natvia. It says on the pack 100% natural sourced sweetener. It’s from Australia.

It says zero calories. It also says absolutely nothing artificial. On the ingredients it says: Erythritol and organic steviol glycosides.

I tried it this morning in coffee. It’s actually ok. Need only half a teaspoon compared to whole teaspoon of sugar that I was using, to get same sweet effect.

I do think it tastes a bit artificial though. Can’t decide. So I looked up Erythritol. Will try to paste the link...

Anyone know about this product?

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/erythritol

[CLKD]

Can't access the link 

Why do you need an artificial sweetener as against sugar or honey?  . I'm reading 'Honey and Dust' which is interesting in how Early man found sugar to be calming by stealing honey from bees.

At 1 point the author visits a well known 'explorer' of everything bee-related, she served him coffee, biscuits and a bowl of sugar cubes 

BinL tried a different type of sweetener: be warned, he was in the loo for 3 days 

[CLKD]

I'm intrigued:  it takes a while to find out what 'natural plant' means  .  Natural doesn't make anything safe, think of cyanidea and arsenic ;-)

from the web-site: Natvia is unique blend of stevia natural plant and erythritol, a natural nectar found in plants, Natvia tastes deliciously sweet with no bitter aftertaste.


Erythritol is a sugar alcohol — a type of carbohydrate found in fruits and vegetables

stavia - from plants that grow in Brazil and S America - should we be taking out more areas in South America in order to satisfy the European ideas?  What about the orang-utans ;-):

1 : any of a genus (Stevia) of composite herbs and shrubs of tropical and subtropical America
especially : a white-flowered tender perennial (S. rebaudiana) native to Paraguay
2 : a white powder composed of one or more intensely sweet glycosides derived from the leaves of a stevia (S. rebaudiana) and used as noncaloric sweetener



Healthcare website - There's a big difference between the stevia sweetener you buy at the grocery store and the raw product. Here's what you need to know.

Another source:  7 Aug 2018 - Samuel Tew is the creator of Natvia, an Australian sweetener created from natural sweeteners stevia and erythritol. It is sugar free and can be ... [can't get further, they want me to sign up  ] [UK Diabetes web-site]

[CLKD]

What's a glycoside?  DH isn't close by to ask 

[Jari]

Hi CLKD, it's just that on the rare occasion that I might bake a cake/meringue/biscuits/rhubarb crumble etc.. I was thinking to find something other than sugar. I think I might bake more if I can find a substitute for sugar. Mainly because of the calories in sugar.

I'm definitely trying to adopt more of a vegan diet and of course using dates etc for sweetening some things, but, on a daily basis I do have about 3 cups of coffee in the morning. I usually have a good teaspoon of brown sugar in each cup. So, at least 3 big teaspoons of added sugar each day, which amounts to about 60 calories. I know that's not much, but if for the baking etc I can find something with zero calories that works well, then I'm up for giving it a try..

To me, it does taste very slightly artificial, but that could be because I'm used to the brown sugar taste. I'll crack on with it and see how it goes. Might make some stewed rhubarb from garden and see the outcome.. x

[Jari]

It says this on wiki... seems from plants..

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steviol_glycoside

[CLKD]

Sugar is sugar: brown is unrefined ;-). Honey and much of our sugar is produced in the UK whereas other forms of sweetener carry air miles.  We buy dates in bulk from Costco.  DH has them in porridge.

Nowt wrong with sugar in small doses and when cooking it's measured amounts.  In fact, the body requires it.  As it does good quality protein. 

Honey is good as one doesn't need as much and it's the one food stuff that never goes off.  Buying local?  We have hives in our village but that produced here, tastes different from that bought 3 miles away.  It's good for hay fever too ;-) but I never remember to begin using it in February.

I used to cook with sunflower oil but deciding how much each spoonful should contain against pouring sugar into a weighing machine  but it did work. Shortbread, cinnamon biscuits, cakes ..... then we moved house in 1983 and I haven't baked since.  We put on weight so I simply stopped.  We are getting a new oven soon 

>love meringues<  We bought peanut butter, honey, sunflower oil from a health food shop, taking our own clean jars/bottles to refill.  Everything was delivered in barrels or hessian sacks.

You've got me on a Mission 

NHS - The truth about sweeteners - worth a read

[CLKD]

However: and this was my first thought:

glycoside

/ˈɡlʌɪkə(ʊ)sʌɪd/

nounBIOCHEMISTRY

a compound formed from a simple sugar and another compound by replacement of a hydroxyl group in the sugar molecule. Many drugs and poisons derived from plants are glycosides.

In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. Wikipedia


I can't reproduce the chemical drawing though 

[Jari]

Well done. Good research!

I'm getting more and more interested in exactly what is in the products we might use.

I've got this to use now 300g pack so will carry on with it and see how it does in baking etc.

I think more and more sugar is made in the northern hemisphere now, but the bulk of it comes from Brazil and India I believe, but just wanted to try another option with less calories..

:-)

[CLKD]

British Sugar Corporation:  the UK grows most of our sugar, from beet in East Anglia and imports cane.  Off for a look-see.

"A WORLD CLASS SUGAR PRODUCER

"As the sole processor of the UK's beet sugar crop, we work in partnership with over 3,000 growers and our customers to deliver a world-class product that is made to the highest standards every day.

"We are the leading producer of sugar for the British and Irish food and beverage markets, processing around eight million tonnes of sugar beet and producing up to 1.4 million tonnes of sugar each year.

"Our innovative approach to manufacturing also enables us to create a range of co-products from power generation and bioethanol, to animal feed and much more.


"The UK beet sugar industry is over 100 years old. Our first factory, built in Cantley, Norfolk in 1912, produced the first harvest and factory ‘campaign' that led to a remarkable partnership between agriculture and industry. Today, this site alone processes around 9,000 tonnes of sugar beet a day to supply around 190,000 tonnes of sugar to customers across the UK and Europe.

" Sugar is part of AB Sugar, which is wholly owned by international food, ingredients and retail group, Associated British Foods plc (ABF)".

[CLKD]

Getting granular: what exactly is sugar

Sugar is a natural ingredient that has been part of our diet for thousands of years. Sugars are carbohydrates that provide energy for the body. The most common sugar in the body is glucose which your brain, major organs and muscles need to function properly. Some sugars are found naturally in foods (e.g. fruit, vegetables and milk) while others are used during processing and cooking – find out more on how sugars are used here. The body does not distinguish between the different types of sugar and breaks them down in exactly the same way. For example, the sucrose in an apple is broken down in exactly the same way as the sucrose in your sugar bowl.

The most common kinds of sugars

Sucrose is often called table sugar. Made up from glucose and fructose, it is extracted from sugar cane or sugar beet and also naturally present in most fruits and vegetables
Fructose and glucose are found in fruits, vegetables and honey
Lactose is commonly called milk sugar because it is found in milk and dairy products
Maltose is also known as malt sugar and is found in malted drinks and beer.
Sugars in your kitchen cupboard

There are of course lots of different sugars that you'll find in your kitchen cupboard too. They are all forms of sucrose and include:

Granulated sugar – a traditional sugar used for cooking

Caster sugar – a little bit finer than granulated sugar, caster sugar is perfect for making cakes

Icing sugar – used for dusting cakes and desserts and making butter icing

Demerara – a brown sugar with a coarse texture that is great for crumble toppings

Light brown sugar – often used to make fruit cakes and puddings with a fuller flavour

Muscovado sugar – a dark treacle like flavour used in gingerbread

Have you ever wondered where sugar comes from? Head to our how sugar is made page.

[CLKD]

Tate & Lyall - cane sugar importers:

Sugar with Stevia -

Tate & Lyle Sugar with Stevia is the UK's first blend of cane sugar and natural stevia leaf extract. Available in both a white blend for adding to drinks and sprinkling over cornflakes and a brown blend to enhance baking. Tate & Lyle Sugar with Stevia offers the same great taste as Tate & Lyle sugar, but with half the calories to achieve the same level of sweetness.

Interesting to me is that Tate & Lyall don't mention the UK as a main grower of sugar beet - competition maybe?  There main cane comes from Belize which I think was a Protectorate?  Of course, the slave trade was heavily involved with sugar production World wide.

[CLKD]

Nicholas grows sugar beet at Vine Farm, Deeping St Nicholas, he writes well about all aspects of UK farming.  One can access information about various states of the spud and sugar industries from a long-standing point of view.

[Sparrow]

I think I must have taste buds that are really tuned in to sweetness.  Every sweetener I have tried has tasted unpleasant.  I use raw cane suger as at least it still has the minerals in it. Apart from that I limit my sugar intake as much as possible.  I hate honey though. 

[CLKD]

Why does anyone need a 'sweetener' instead of  - I can taste them and Canderal shouldn't be used if one takes certain ADs.  [I think that's the name]

Honey is too sweet for me nowadays but I yearn for a hive in our garden