Stevia

It’s no wonder corporations are jumping on the bandwagon. Worldwide sales of Stevia, for example, jumped 27% in just one year, reaching 3,500 metric tons in 2010, its overall market value soaring to US$285 million.

At present, Japan takes the number one spot for Stevia consumption.  At an incredible 40% of the sweetener market, they consume more Stevia than any other country.

Stevia, a member of the chrysanthemum family native to portions of northeastern Paraguay.  As a genus, Stevia consists of 240 species of plants native to areas from the Southwest US to South America. It’s Spanish botanist and physician Pedro Jaime Esteve from which Stevia its name.

Stevia is sold as a dietary supplement in the U.S., but corporations have taken it and made it accessible to the public.  Accessible, commercially viable, or whatever you want to call it, they’ve made it more “sugary”, and more familiar to American eyes and palates by adding a granular element.  This was to make stevia a direct competitor to existing packet colors: yellow Splenda (sucralose), blue Equal (aspartame), and the pink and white stuff, too.

-Nadia Reece