Bring on the Stable Blood Sugar: Revamp Your Holiday Baking with Stevia
Winter’s here and so is my extended family’s sweet tooth.
This year I’ve been trying to take it easy on the sugar, so I’ve pulled my liquid stevia stock out of the pantry and I’ve been gathering a holiday hodgepodge of recipe ideas. I’ve used liquid stevia to sweeten green smoothies and make sugar-free hot cocoa before, but up until recently, I didn’t think to actually use the stuff it in my occasional foray into holiday baking.
Luckily Pinterest introduced me to some oh-so-stevia-filled ginger snap cookies, chocolate truffles and pumpkin pies.
So far in my baking experiments, I've discovered that when it comes to using stevia in the baking, you can’t merely substitute for sweetness. You’ve also got to substitute that “filler-texture” with an equivalent something. Think yogurt, egg whites, applesauce, fruit puree or even just water.
Stevia has one basic rule. Bitter aftertaste = chemical processing. So if you’ve tried stevia before (maybe Truvia or PureVia) and thought “yuck” it might be worth a second dabble (but this time try a different less-processed brand).
My local health food store carries SweetLeaf stevia, so that’s how I first started trying Stevia in the first place and it’s been my go-to ever since. So far I’ve only tried a handful of their liquid drippers: Chocolate, Lemon Drop, Vanilla Creme and Steviaclear. Steviaclear’s my favorite because it just goes well with anything. I’m not a big fan of SweetLeaf’s Vanilla Cream flavor—it just tastes a bit “blah.” But I do really want to try out their Pumpkin Spice and Berry flavors soon.
SweetLeaf also has a great founding story. A Peace Corps worker who just returned from Paraguay persuaded Jim May, the future founder, to literally taste what was described as a “sweet leaf”. Turns out it was a stevia leaf. Mr. May fell in love with Stevia (and the fact that it didn’t spike his blood sugar levels.)
Good for You - SweetLeaf’s Stevia Drops are free of artificial ingredients and fillers (so you don’t have to worry about dextrose/maltodextrin). Plus, no chemicals, solvents or alcohols (like methanol or ethanol) are used in their extraction process. I was a bit worried when I saw “natural flavors” listed as an ingredient, so I reached out to the company and Jeanne (their customer service manager) explained that all of SweetLeaf’s drops are free of MSG. SweetLeaf’s liquid stevia is also soy free, dairy free and gluten free (aka they contain no corn, wheat, barley or rye). Sweet Drops are also vegan. Hurray!
Good for Others -SweetLeaf has been sustainably harvest from nine locations in Latin America for 30+ years. SweetLeaf’s parent company Wisdom Natural Brands works with local farmers to establish long-lasting relationships. The brand currently is working on the “Paraguay Project” to help farmers realize that they can live better and receive higher incomes from growing stevia, instead of crops used for illegal drugs. I wish there was a bit more information online about SweetLeaf’s sourcing and specifics about where it is being farmed.
Good for Earth - SweetLeaf’s® stevia leaves are processed using only cool, purified water. Because no chemicals, solvents or alcohols are used in the extraction or purification process, there is no waste whatsoever. The stevia leaf residue becomes cattle feed or ground mulch, and the spent water is saved in large tanks. The local farmers fill their tanker trucks and use the highly nutritive water to irrigate their growing crops, stimulating root growth while sweetening their fruits and vegetables. Even the box is made from 100% recycled materials. And the droppers come in a reusable glass bottle.
C&C Overall - The 2oz drippers really make it easy to quickly sweeten up liquids, I usually use SweetLeaf a few times a week (sweetening my Crio Brew, Cocoa, lemonade or my Le Croix). I think it’s a cost efficient product and it helps with the journey to cut back on sugars. Ater about a year or so my Chocolate liquid stevia did seems to “steviafy” and hae more solid chunks in it. So, I try to only buy a 1-2 droppers a year (instead of stocking up on a bunch of flavors) because I don’t know if I could use them all within that year-time frame.
