Stevia Extract In The Raw Sweetener Review

Stevia Extract In The Raw Sweetener was released to the public recently. A few month ago, I saw this stevia-based product at Walmart and thought I’d bring home a 50-pack box to review. My findings from that exercise follow.

Benefits, Advantages, Pros, and Features

In my tea, this sugar replacement dissolves rapidly, and I love the flavor which is almost as neutral as sugar, and as sweet as well.
It looks a lot like sugar, as this sweetener is a granulated, dry powder.
This sugar substitute has a mild yet pleasant aroma that hints of stevia.
The crystals are about as coarse as typical sugar, and each packet of Stevia in the Raw is roughly the same weight per packet as comparably sized packets of Equal, Sweet N Low, and Splenda.
This zero calorie sweetener is white in color, like sugar, and it has a rough feel that feels cool to the touch. However when moistened, this stevia sweetener does not create as tacky a behavior as sugar and seems to draw fewer bugs if spilled.
To me, this sweetener tastes no different in my favorite foods and drinks than the Now Stevia Glycerite that I’ve been using for about a decade and a half.
This sweetener contains a stevia extract (Rebiana), which is removed from the leaves of the stevia plant. A stevia lover myself, I’m pleased that stevia may well be making it into the mainstream market as the the sweetening agents in this low-calorie sweetener.
Stevia Extract in the Raw does not create craving for more in me. Bodacious!. So sweeteners like this one are non addictive, which differs noticeably from sugar or Splenda which I find quite addicting.
This is a 100% natural product according to the 1.75 ounce box I’m reading from right now.
Plus, this sweetener has a very long shelf life that makes it ideal for stockpiling.
This near-zero calorie sugar replacement is good for diabetics, as it contains no actual sugar per serving. Its main ingredient by weight is dextrose (sugar). However, stevia is much sweeter than sugar (approximately three hundred times as sweet), and though it’s the second and last ingredient on the ingredients list for this product, the stevia sweetness is what dominates by far the total sweetness taste of Stevia in the Raw. In fact, there’s so little dextrose in each serving of this product, that one packet has less than one calorie. Further, while dextrose is a sugar, long associated with sweetness, in this product, it actually serves to dilute the sweetness of the stevia, so that this sweetener measures more like sugar. They dilute the stevia so that the resulting sweetness more closely approximates that of white table sugar.

Disadvantages, Cons, Problems, Concerns, and Suggested Improvements

To get the degree of sweetness to which I’m accustomed, I must use 5 packets of this stevia sweetener in my big cups of Plantation Mint tea or on my Cheerios, to adequately sweeten them.
This means that I get 10 cups of sweetened tea per 50-packet box. At $3.19 per box, my sweetener cost per cup of tea is $0.32. This seems a bit costly. Hopefully, the price will shrink even more as time passes, as typically occurs when the popular new sweeteners force their ways into the mainstream alongside sugar.

Our Rating

So I would recommend Stevia Extract In The Raw Sweetener in spite of it’s costliness and its small available amounts, to anyone looking for a decently sweet taste but without all the calories of sugar, syrups, or agave nectar. I’d thus rate this product at 83 out of 100.

Where To Buy Stevia In The Raw Sweetener

Look for the dark green box with the cup of tea on the front and that has the white letters at Walmart and other bigger brick-and-mortar and online shops. If you’re like me, you’ll certainly appreciate this natural sugar alternative.

References

Revision History

2015-01-26: Moved this post to the Tom’s Diet Quest blog, added whitespace, adjusted ad placement, and rearranged category and tag assignments.
2012-04-18: Originally published.