Stevia Sweeteners from Canderel and Morrisons

Artificial sweeteners have had a lot of bad press, with some studies leaving many of us understandably concerned about their safety. For those who are looking for a ‘natural’ alternative to sugar but without the calories, it looks like Stevia may be a healthier good compromise.

The number of Stevia based sweeteners on the supermarket shelves has been steadily increasing as different sweetener brands introduce their own version of Stevia.

Here are a couple of new Stevia sweeteners recently spotted on the shelves of a Morrison’s supermarket.

First is a tablet sweetener from Morrisons called Sweet & Light. This form is suitable for hot drinks with each tablet having a sweetness equivalent to 1 teaspoon of sugar. Calories per tablet = 0.

I already use a Morrison’s tablet sweetener, their own brand based on sucralose which I find very similar to Splenda’s own tablets. However, I find the stevia version isn’t nearly as sweet. As a compromise, I've been using one stevia and one sucralose table in my coffee and tea which works fine for me.

Ingredients: lactose, sweetener (29%) (steviol glycosides); anti-caking agent (crosslinked sodium carboxy methyl cellulose), corn starch, leucine. Suitable for vegetarians.

The next is a new table top sweetener by Canderel. This one is more like Truvia in that it has a crunchy texture which resembles sugar. It is supposed to be sweeter than actual sugar and states on the pack that half a teaspoon of Crunchy stevia is the same as half a teaspoon of sugar. Per teaspoon, Canderel crunchy stevia has 0 calories.

As you can see from the ingredients listed below, this sweetener contains only a tiny percentage of stevia with the crunchiness and extra sweetness coming from erythritol. This is a naturally-occurring sugar alcohol which is found in small amounts in various plants, fruits and fungi. It contains virtually no calories (95% fewer calories than table sugar), has a low GL and doesn't contribute to tooth decay. So it tastes like sugar but is about 70% as sweet.

This sweetener is certainly crunchy but it’s a finer powder than Truvia. It doesn’t taste as sweet as other sweeteners but it could be a good way to down regulate your sweet tooth if you have one.

I emptied Canderel's Sweet Crunchy Stevia into a sugar container without telling the kids. It normally contains Truvia (and they have no idea it's not sugar). Anyway, they twigged right away onto the fact it wasn't their usual 'sugar' and stopped using it. That could have been a good way to wean them off the sweet stuff, but unfortunately they just swapped to the caster sugar my daughter uses for baking.

I probably would buy this again, but right now it’s way too expensive (as is Truvia). It costs £4.50 for a 275g jar but I tend to stock pile whenever I find them on a special offer.

Ingredients Canderel Sweet Crunchy Stevia: Bulking agent: erythritol, sweetener: steviol glycosides 0.8%, natural flavourings.

Note: excessive consumption may cause laxative effects. Suitable for diabetics and vegetarians and is kosher.

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See also:

Sugar substitutes and sweeteners using Stevia - Read Post
Truvia Calorie Free Sweetener - Read Post
Sukrin Gold Stevia Brown Sugar - Read Post
Tate & Lyle Sugar with Stevia - Read Post

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