Stevia Rebaudiana

Stevia Stevia rebaudiana (Asteraceae)

It is a herbaceous perennial or in some cases small shrubs of the Asteraceae family, native of the mountains of Paraguay and Brazil. It is used as a sweetener, as it is much sweeter than saccharose: in its natural form, about 10-15 times sweeter. The sweeteners elements are present in all parts of the plant but are more present in the leaves. Whereas the average content of the extracts, a fresh leaf, or a quarter of a teaspoon of a dried leaf, would correspond to a soup spoon (during the dry plant, the plant loses about 80% of its weight). Unlike sugar, the active ingredients of Stevia have no nutritional value: These natural products are relatively quite stable for a long period of time and to high temperatures, so they perfectly preserved their characteristics as in products done to the stove and in warm drinks, whih does not occur with other sweeteners of synthesis.